Democratic oversight of security agencies in Israel

The Security and Civilian Oversight Laboratory at the Center for Applied Research is engaged in formulating solutions for the essential balance between security resilience and effective democratic oversight in Israel. The laboratory investigates how to ensure the security system's commitment to the common good while preventing politicization, erosion of public trust, and harm to the professionalism of the forces. The research focuses on designing civilian oversight mechanisms that will allow the political echelon to maintain control over the security bodies without compromising their professional independence, and on regulating security decision-making processes so that they encourage substantive judgment rather than political pressures. In a changing reality in which the challenges of security and democracy are intertwined, the laboratory works to create tools that will ensure a strong, professional, and controlled security system — an essential pillar of a healthy democracy.