IDF to monitor cell phones of defense officials and career officers
The IDF will replace tens of thousands of phones as part of a Military Intelligence drive to monitor cellphone conversations and activities.

By Gili Cohen | Jul.31, 2012 | 1:52 AM

Private phone conversations could soon become a thing of the past for defense officials and career officers in the Israel Defense Forces. As of tomorrow, the IDF will start monitoring their phone calls in an effort to prevent classified information from being leaked.
The IDF will replace tens of thousands of phones as part of a Military Intelligence drive to monitor cellphone conversations and activities. Instead of the phones defense officials and officers currently use, which are on the Mirs network, they will be receiving new smartphones operated by Cellcom.
The phones will be closely monitored by MI’s Information Security Department. Those affected by the new surveillance program will receive a manual compiled by MI officers, as well as a text message, detailing the new regulations. There will be an emphasis on rules pertaining to the use of social networks and information-sharing applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Waze etc.
The regulations forbid users from sharing their location (“checking in” ) on these sites when they are on a military base. In addition, they will not be permitted to use navigation applications during military activities. And officers will be instructed not to use their cellphones at all during classified military activity.
“We have no intention of listening in on a conversation between man and wife, but [to] information passed on in breach of regulations and privacy,” an intelligence officer said.
Officers who pass on classified information via cellphones will be subject to the penalties stipulated by military law, he said.
Haaretz reported at the beginning of April that the defense establishment demanded that Cellcom, which won the tender to supply the IDF with smartphones, develop a system enabling it to monitor subscribers’ calls and listen in on them at no additional cost.