Posted on 04/16/2014 8:29:47 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
The Israeli army has formed a specialized intelligence unit that includes soldiers diagnosed with autism, a neurological disorder involving impaired social interaction and communication problems.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman’s office said that the autistic soldiers have remarkable visual and analytic capabilities. “They can detect even the smallest details, undetectable to most people,” it said in a press release.
The commander of the unit, identified only as “Col. J,” said that the success of the program exceeded all expectations. “Their job is to take visual materials from satellite images and airborne sensors,” he said. “With the help of their officers and decoding tools, they analyze the images and find specific things they need in order to allow those who are planning a mission to get the best data.”
The idea of utilizing the special strengths of personnel on the autism spectrum for intelligence analysis came from a couple who had served in army intelligence. When they put their suggestion to IDF Unit 9900, which specializes in photo interpretation and mapping, a trial project was organized.
“There were many problems along the way,” Col. J said. “The process took about a year. We worked until we achieved success.”
Joining in the initiative was the Ono Academic College, near Tel Aviv, which set up a program dubbed RR (an acronym for the Hebrew words “looking far”). Autistic soldiers selected for the program are given a three-month course before joining the army. Academic personnel from the RR program continue to work with the graduates when they are in uniform and also advise their army commanders.
In the wake of the success with the first group of recruits, the college has begun working with the army in developing programs that would utilize other strengths of those with autism. One course is for software quality assurance and the other for information management.
Asked about the relations between the autistic soldiers and other troops in the unit, Col. J termed them excellent. “From time to time I see them outside the building where they work sitting with others in the unit having lunch. It’s very natural.”
As the grandmother of an autistic child, I’m speechless!
Monk Force. (after Adrian Monk even though he had different problems).
Israel is ahead of the curve. Again.
I bet a large part of the Navy code breakers who deciphered the Imperial Japanese Naval code, leading to victory at Midway, would be diagnosed as autistic. That unit was infamous for its lax discipline but give credit to the higher ups who left alone to do their job.
Smart move. Everyone benefits. Except the bad guys.
But wait and see. The lib wing over there will claim abuse.
Years ago, I once had to give a classified briefing to an auditorium full of people at the big green cube at Ft. Meade.
While I was waiting for my contact and sitting in the lobby waiting to get cleared and ready to go, I saw the most disheveled collection of odd humans entering. They were were part of a class of people I’ve come to call “Quasi-Quiddity”. My impression of that visit instilled in me the belief that this place employed all manner of the socially odd and humans of a singularly gifted sort, savants if you will. Frankly, it kind of shook my belief system of ‘regular Americans’.
There's a smidgeon of envy in me for the autistic ... I'd like, just once to get a response to; "C'mon, tell me ... waddaya' know?"
It would be tough commanding a unit like this, but the concept is extremely forward thinking and could yield huge dividends.
Meanwhile Hussein is forming domestic gestapo units.
That’s frigging brilliant, actually...
Good on them.
Am I surprised that the Israelis recognized this heretofore unrecognized ability? Not in the slightest. Being in a daily battle for your existence often leads to extreme ingenuity.
Did not during WW 2, they had native Americans do major code breaking work?
The Marines during WW II used members of I believe Navajo tribe to send encoded messages to each other using their native language.
It wasn’t code-breaking. It was actually transmitting coded messages in their native tongue. Completely un-decipherable to the Japanese.
Very interesting.
Very true about high level autism.
As someone that knows about the high school quiz bowl circuit, there are TONS of high functioning autistic students playing that have learned and can instantly recall huge amounts of information at blinding speed.
When it is autism is developed as a positive and not a negative, it can be stunning.
Because I remember a movie a few years back about the code translation.
Bravo Israel.
My daughter spent years as a social worker working with autistic kids and told me the same thing. She was very frustrated that 90%+ of her clients were interested in doing only the minimum necessary to keep the government checks coming.
Indeed!
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