Israel’s missile defence chief sacked over security breach

Israel’s Missile Defence Chief Yair Ramati has been dismissed from his post over “a grave breach of information security”, the Israeli defence ministry announced in a statement on Sunday.

The ministry’s statement did not elaborate on the nature of the security breach, but Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday that Ramati stored “highly classified material on his personal computer”.

The ministry’s statement said “relevant authorities” will be handling the case.

Ramati had been in the post for four years, overseeing projects such as the Iron Dome and Arrow anti-missile interceptor systems.

The surprise move came after a month that saw two new “successes” in the missile programs under Ramati’s purview. Arrow 3, a system designed to counter ballistic missiles, hit a target in space to pass its first full test in early December. A week later Ramati said David’s Sling, which guards against medium-range threats, had ended its testing phase and would be deployed by the Israeli air force.