Brigadier General Eran Ortal

Brigadier General Eran Ortal is the current commander of The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies. Ortal is also the founder of the Israel Defense Force Dado Center journal, dedicated to Operational art and military transformation. 

He was drafted into the IDF's Nahal Brigade in 1989, and served in southern Lebanon and the west Bank in the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps. In 1993, he completed his active service and studied history and political science, He then earned a master's degree in security studies at Tel Aviv University. 

In 1999, Ortal returned to the IDF as an operations researcher in the Planning Branch (J-5) of the IDF General Staff. In 2004, he transferred to the Operations Division of the IDF's Operations Directorate, where he served in a variety of positions as operational planner during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza (2005), the Second Lebanon War (2006), the Airstrike that destroyed the Syrian nuclear reactor (2007) and Operation Cast Lead (2008). 

Ortal attended the IDF brigade commanders course in 2012, and the next year began studying in the National Security College while also serving as a research fellow. In 2013, Ortal was promoted to the rank of colonel and became the Dado Center’s deputy commander and head of think tank. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2019 and replaced BG Dr. Meir Finkel as commander of the Dado Center. 

Ortal’s published work focuses on operational planning and IDF force design at the general staff level.