The Brodet Committee, the public committee charged with reviewing the defense budget, has recommended unprecedented reforms for preparing and implementing the defense budget, including full civilian regulation.

The panel has submitted its recommendations to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The committee's work was conducted under heavy secrecy. Accordingly, it is unclear if its conclusions will even be partially publicized. As opposed to the Winograd Committee, which held meetings behind closed doors but had a public relations consultant and held press conferences, the Brodet Committee has no spokesman or PR employee because its discussions are highly confidential. Committee members said they doubt the committee's conclusions or main decisions will be publicized, or that the committee will be permitted to hold a press conference.

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Members of the Brodet Committee describe their work as extremely thorough, drawing systemic rather than personal conclusions. Nevertheless, it sometimes harshly criticizes the way the IDF implemented its budget over the past few years. In the opinion of the committee members, the defense establishment and the IDF had sufficient funds to conduct the Second Lebanon War more successfully. Committee members recommend an extensive reform in the way the defense budget is prepared in the coming years.

The members say the reform is dramatic, the most extensive since the establishment of the state. According to the recommendations, the defense budget should be more transparent, and the prime minister and Finance Ministry should have more influence over preparing the budget and supervising its implementation, at the expense of the Defense Ministry and the IDF, which have held more sway to date. The committee's conclusions take into account the capabilities of the economy and the army as exhibited in the Second Lebanon War.

The members recommend that the defense budget be prepared on a multi-annual basis to allow for mid-and long-term planning of the IDF's activities. This is particularly crucial for long-term, sophisticated, projects that require large amounts of money. In the short term, the committee recommends an increase in the defense budget. The committee recommends putting an end to the annual struggles between the defense ministry and the treasury over the defense budget, and the treasury supports the committee's conclusions.

In preparation for the next war

The Brodet Committee was established by Prime Minister Olmert on November 13, 2006, following the Lebanon war, and after the demands of the army for a large budget increase to prepare for the next conflict. Committee members reviewed the defense budget from all angles, to revise and tailor it to the current needs of the IDF, taking all military and geopolitical factors into consideration.

The committee is headed by David Brodet, former Director General at the treasury and head of the budgets department. Committee members were Major Generals Ilan Biran and Eitan Ben-Eliahu, head of the Bank of Israel research department Karnit Flug, former accountant general Nir Gilad, Teva Chairman Eli Horovitz, former Chief Scientist Dr. Orna Berry, former Mossad head Ilan Mizrahi, and chairman of the National Security Council and head of the National Economy Council, Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg.

The committee was established after disagreements between the defense and finance ministries following the Lebanon war. The defense ministry demanded a huge budget increase of about NIS 30 billion, and the Finance Ministry granted it NIS 8.2 billion to cover direct costs of the war to the IDF.