Instating a military secretary in the Security Cabinet would aid its members in focusing on strategy, instead of minute detail.

Regardless of his politics, Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s request to help solidify the Security Cabinet’s professional wherewithal by appointing a military secretary to advise the Cabinet is correct and justified. When I was head of the Operations Directorate, I was asked by the defense minister to present a certain operation before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Though it was the defense minister who had the power to grant the final approval for the operation, since it happened to be a particularly delicate case, he had wanted the prime minister to be briefed on its details, as well.

Upon arriving at the Prime Minister’s Office, I was stopped by the prime minister’s military secretary, who flatly told me, “Approving this operation falls under the defense minister’s jurisdiction. If he wants to share that responsibility, have him raise the matter before the Security Cabinet. The prime minister is not the next highest rank after the defense minister here—the Security Cabinet is.” He was right; the Cabinet does constitute the most senior echelon in the country in all matters of state security.

The relationship between the Security Cabinet and the IDF can be compared to that of a company’s board of directors and the company itself, with the IDF chief of staff serving as its CEO. And though the board of directors does have a chairperson—personified by the prime minister—the most important issues are still decided by the board, and not its chairperson.

Read the full article at Ynet.