Unit 8200

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Unit 8200 (read as eight-two hundred) is an IDF Intelligence Corps unit, responsible for collecting signal intelligence. It is also known in military publications as the Central Collection Unit of the Intelligence Corps, and was formerly known as Unit 515, and later, Unit 848.

It is the largest unit in the IDF, comparable in its function to the United States' National Security Agency, except that it is not a separate civilian (i.e. Ministry of Defense) body. The unit includes the Hatzav Unit, which collects OSINT intelligence, and according to media reports, provides over half of the intelligence information to the Intelligence Community.

In March 2004, The Commission to investigate the intelligence network following the War in Iraq recommended turning the unit into a civilian National SIGINT Agency, as is largely the case in other Western countries, but this proposal has yet to be implemented.

Unit 8200 is led by a Brigadier-General whose identity remains classified.

[edit] Within IDF structure

• General Staff

• Intelligence Directorate

• Intelligence Corps

• Unit 8200

• Hatzav Unit