Britannia Radio

 

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 06:12 15/03/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1071050.html

 

A group of former top security, government and economic officials are
offering crisis management and decision-making services to the new
government.

The "strategic thought team" will present its main findings for the Benjamin
Netanyahu administration's first 100 days Sunday at the Interdisciplinary
Center in Herzliya, in a conference by the Lauder School of Government.

The team members include former Military Intelligence head Amos Malka,
strategic adviser Haim Asa, Lauder dean Alex Mintz, former Africa Israel CEO
Erez Meltzer and outgoing Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel. Former air force
chief Eliezer Shkedi is expected to join at a later date.

The team will advise government bodies like the Prime Minister's Office,
National Insurance Institute and the Foreign and Defense Ministries.

Mintz will present a plan for addressing the Iranian nuclear threat by
creating a civil administration to coordinate economic warfare, sanctions,
influencing Iranian public opinion, military preparations, public relations
and legal action against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In addition, Asa will present the administration with three recommendations:
stepping up negotiating efforts with Syria as a cornerstone for a regional
peace agreement, changing government offices (in particular, moving the
Finance Ministry's budget division to the Prime Minister's Office to help
set the national agenda) and developing a national security project for
developing drones, which will not only bolster national security but will
also find work for unemployed high-tech professionals.