In a reaction to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Tel Aviv University decided to establish a Center for Security Studies. A number of individuals within and outside the University community posited that one possible reason for Israel's having been caught by surprise on October 6, 1973 was that no institution outside the Israeli establishment had assumed the responsibility of evaluating the premises on which government policy was based – premises that also guided the planning and conduct of Israel’s defense establishment. Had such a research institute existed, it might have questioned the assumptions leading to the intelligence assessment that war was unlikely.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Aharon (Ahrale) Yariv, who had served as head of Israel’s Military Intelligence and briefly as a member of Knesset, was tapped for the job. Yariv insisted that the newly established institute be completely independent, and on that basis the Center for Strategic Studies was launched in early 1978. In 1983, the Center was renamed the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, in recognition of a major financial pledge by Mr. Melvin (Mel) Jaffee of Orange County, California.
The road to serious recognition of the Jaffee Center in the Israeli military and academic scene proved to be an uphill battle. Within a few years, however, the Center began to acquire a reputation for groundbreaking and taboo-breaching studies of key aspects of Israel’s national security, focusing on the Arab-Israeli conflict; the Palestinian issue; US-Israel relations; arms control and regional security; terrorism and low intensity conflict; civil-military relations; the regional military balance; and more. Governmental resistance to the Center's involvement in security-related deliberations gradually diminished, and the Center became increasingly perceived as “neutral ground” by different arms of the Israeli security establishment. The Center's staff engaged in additional activities, such as Track-II talks and strategic dialogues conducted with counterpart institutions in key countries. By the late 1990s, the Center supplemented its books, monographs, conferences, and brainstorming sessions with additional forums for analysis and evaluation. Strategic Assessment was launched as the Center’s quarterly journal in 1998, and additional publications and research activities have since joined the list.
In 2006, the Center became an external institute of Tel Aviv University, and was incorporated as the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). With greater financial and administrative independence, INSS moved to its new premises, and embarked on a rapid rise to new professional renown. Existing research programs were expanded and new ones launched, including on China, Russia, the Gulf states, and more. In addition, INSS broadened its understanding of “national security” to include the softer aspects of the field, such as societal resilience, lawfare, cyber, energy, and more. INSS began to engage heavily in social media activity, and reached out to new audiences through different channels, platforms, and forums.
In parallel, INSS renown reached new heights. While under the leadership of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, INSS was recognized in the index ranking think tanks around the world, prepared annually at the University of Pennsylvania, as the leading think tank in Israel and in the Middle East, and ranked twelfth in the world in the fields of defense and national security. INSS developed new collaborations with leading institutes abroad, and was a regular stop for visiting dignitaries and delegations from abroad. Both in Israel and abroad, the INSS “take” on unfolding events and regional developments became a nearly standard requirement in the domestic and international media, and among Israeli and international strategic thinkers and policymakers. This voice has become a critical component in closed forums among leading policymakers and in the public debate.
In May 2021, Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg became the new head of INSS. Prof. Trajtenberg’s appointment signaled there would be greater emphasis at the Institute on socio-economic issues as a central layer of Israel’s national security; this new focus joined the continued work on traditional core research areas. Three years later, in May 2024, Major General (Res.) Tamir Hayman replaced Prof. Trajtenberg in his position. Before joining INSS, Maj. Gen. (res.) Hayman served in the IDF for 34 years. In his last post he served as head of the Intelligence Directorate, and before that served as commander of the National Defense College and commander of the Northern Corps. Upon assuming the position, Hayman said: “The events of October 7 have defined anew the need for a change in priorities in every area and have underscored above all that national security, personal security, societal cohesion, and resilience are critical elements in our ability to confront the intensifying security challenges before us. These and other issues will be at the core of INSS research activity in the coming years.”