ABSTRACT
Any analysis of arms decisionmaking has to focus on the near hegemony of the defense establishment itself and, secondly, on the developmental stages of decisions which eventually comprise the Ministry of Defense policy submitted to the government. Lack of Cabinet involvement in creating defense policy on the one hand, and the absence of a review and control apparatus on the other, leave the minister of defense with almost unlimited maneuverability. As a result, the policy that eventually emerges is to a great extent that of one man, not that of the defense establishment. The minister of defense in effect imposed his opinion upon the IDF and the IAF, and submitted a complete plan to the Cabinet Defense Committee. The professional estimate presented by the IAF command to Minister of Defense Begin deviated considerably from the approach of his predecessor, Ezer Weizman.
