AMAN's 'Culture of Doubt' Flourishes – What It Means
The leadership of IDF Intelligence (AMAN) is instilling a 'culture of doubt' in officer training following the lessons of October 7. The 'Havatselet' program teaches not to accept information as absolute truth, encouraging alternative hypotheses and professional humility in conditions of uncertainty.
The leadership of the IDF Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) is reassessing its approach to training command personnel after the events of October 7. Brigadier General (res.) with the call sign 'Gimel', head of the 'Havatselet' program, spoke about implementing a 'culture of doubt': officers are taught not to perceive information as absolute truth, even when the analytical picture seems obvious. The program is an elite three-year course with rigorous selection, including an academic degree in Middle Eastern studies, field exercises, and internships. The key takeaway is the need for professional humility and comfort with uncertainty. The training process has abandoned the search for a single correct answer, encouraging alternative hypotheses and reasoned debate. In practice, analysis is divided into staff coordination and frontline work. Graduates maintain close ties for rapid data exchange. The general emphasizes that the task of intelligence is not guarantees, but maximum dissipation of the fog of war.