Technology's Knowledge Burden, the RMA and the IDF: Organizing the Hypertext Organization for Future‘Wars of Disruption’?

Abstract

In modernizing the IDF by adopting many budget-reducing elements of the US-defined RMA model of a modern military, Israeli defense leaders are choosing a path highly problematical for the knowledge-conditions of the nation. Even in selected pieces, the RMA model remains a socio-technical arrangement most appropriate for an expeditionary army of a geographically isolated, wealthy society. This work reviews the RMA model's organizational knowledge requirements and the current knowledge conditions facing the IDF. The discussion addresses the RMA implications for Israel's conventional deterrence; the role of surprise in future conflicts; and the possible transformation of the IDF into a non-RMA knowledge-centric organization more congruent with Israeli geostrategic and internal knowledge conditions.