Unit 8200 (Unit Eight Two-hundred) (יחידה 8200 or shmone matayim in Hebrew) is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit, responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption. It is also known in military publications as the Central Collection Unit of the Intelligence Corps.
Urim SIGINT Base is the most important signal intelligence-gathering installation operated by Israel's military and is part of Unit 8200. The Urim base is located in the Negev desert approximately 30 km from Beersheba.”[2]
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 in other Western countries, but this proposal was not implemented.
Alleged operations
Ronen Bergman revealed in a 2009 book that a Hezbollah bomb, disguised as a cell phone, exploded at Unit 8200's headquarters in February 1999. Two officers were injured.[3]
In 2010, the New York Times cited "a former member of the United States intelligence community" alleging that this unit used a secret kill switch to deactivate Syrian air defenses during Operation Orchard.[4]
^Le Monde Diplomatique, 2010 September, "Israel’s Omniscient Ears: Israel’s Urim Base in the Negev Desert is among the most important and powerful intelligence gathering sites in the world. Yet, until now, its eavesdropping has gone entirely unmentioned," http://mondediplo.com/2010/09/04israelbase
