12/03/2014, 18:29
State Comptroller: Red tape means the IDF can only provide partial protection.
Israel's offshore natural gas facilities in the Mediterranean are inadequately protected and vulnerable to attacks by hostile countries and terrorist organizations, says State Comptroller Joseph Shapira in a report on the Ministry of Defense. He found that delays in decision-making by the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defense, and the IDF have left the platforms only partly protected, despite the acknowledgement of their huge economic potential.
"The reality in which Israel's economy and international standing are improving in the gas production industry, and the economy's growing dependence on the gas supply, make the gas facilities targets of attacks by hostile countries and terrorist organizations," warns Shapira. "Hezbollah has made explicit threats to attack Israel's gas platforms. Threats against the Tamar production platform and the Yam Tethys platform which contain combustible gas and complex machinery, which are close to the Gaza Strip and not far from shore, are diverse and should be prepared for."
Staff work on a defense plan for the gas facilities by the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defense, the Israel Navy, and others is characterized by foot-dragging, says Shapira. National Security Council began its staff work on the subject in late 2010 and submitted proposals to the security cabinet in April 2013. The plan includes protecting Israel's exclusive economic zone, timetables for the procurement of equipment, and the necessary budgets. The security cabinet only discussed the matter in September 2013, and gave the IDF the mission two months later.
Shapira says that the IDF lacks the means to adequately defend the facilities. He says that even as the staff work dragged on, the IDF tried to move forward. In October 2012, then-Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Yair Naveh warned then National Security Council chairman Yaakov Amidror, "We're entering the Israel project on the back foot."
The gas facilities are protected by private security companies which mostly use veterans of combat units. Shapira found that the platforms have not yet been declared "critical enterprises" during an emergency, which means that the security guards are liable to be called up for reserve IDF duty, even though threats to the facilities will be heightened during an emergency.
The Ministry of the Economy is responsible for classifying "critical enterprises", but it told Shapira that the Ministry of National Infrastructures has not requested the designation. The Prime Minister's Office told Shapira that the IDF is responsible for protecting the facilities, and that it will use its discretion whether to call up the facilities' security guards during an emergency. "This decision should not be put at the IDF's door, because it is not responsible for the facilities' security," said Shapira.
The Ministry of Defense said, "When the government decision was made, the ministry acted to execute the procurement of ships for the navy and other equipment under a very short timetable."
The IDF spokesman said, "As part of the staff work, the cabinet was shown a defense concept and plan to carry out this mission. The designated system will include field ships, ships for routine operations, and unmanned vessels, intelligence gathering, and more. Pursuant to the cabinet decision, the Navy is carrying out its mission using the means available and carries out patrols in the defense space defined for it."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 12, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014
Link to source: http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-offshore-gas-platforms-vulnerable-to-attack-1000923993
