Yair Ramati, the director of Israel’s air and missile defense research operation, was suddenly fired on Sunday after emerged that he had stored classified information on his personal computer.
Ramati headed projects created with broad American cooperation such as the Iron Dome and Arrow missile interceptor systems. He has been in office since 2012, when he came on board after a long career in the Israeli Aerospace Industries. He is considered an international authority on rocket engineering.
Ramati was fired by the Defense Ministry’s new security director, who is currently investigating whether or not Ramati’s security protocol breach caused damage to Israel’s national security. As of Monday, the matter remained undetermined.
Ramati’s firing, which shocked the Israeli military establishment, comes at a particularly awkward time, a mere two weeks after he oversaw the successful test of the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile, Israel’s flagship project that suffered reverses in recent years.
He also was responsible for the David’s Sling system, which is expected to be delivered to the IDF in weeks.
Ramati is known to have many friends in Washington, where he has been a popular lecturer and military briefer and successfully maneuvered the US military lobby when he persuaded the Pentagon to invest US research and development finds in an Israeli plan.