The career of Admiral (ret.) Michael Rogers reflects both his admiration for Israeli resilience and his strategic belief that the country is central to the future of not only cybersecurity but defense tech and dual-use innovation.
This week, Rogers, the former head of the US National Security Agency and US Cyber Command, sat down with Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post on the sidelines of the International DefenseTech Summit, led by the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development, in collaboration with the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University.
It was far from being his first time in Israel. The first few times were in the 1980s, when the biggest security challenge for Israel was Palestinian terrorism, and there were military checkpoints on highways. Now, while there are no longer checkpoints along Israeli highways, the threat is not only Palestinian terrorism, but ballistic missiles and drone attacks from neighboring countries, as well as Iran and the Houthis in Yemen.
Times have changed, and so has warfare. And so has the innovative technology being churned out by Israeli defense-tech start-ups and the large defense companies.
Rogers often remarked that what impressed him most about Israel was not only its technical excellence but the country’s societal resilience under constant geopolitical pressure. Speaking to D&T, he noted that the adaptability and creativity of Israeli entrepreneurs mirrored the urgency of their national security environment.
“The last two times that I’ve been in Israel, I was under rocket attacks,” he said, chuckling that it was different from being under rocket attacks in Afghanistan or Iraq.
“I was at dinner with a friend, and we were sitting at a bar, and people started seeing alerts on their phones and calmly walked to a center corridor for shelter. I was mentally thinking how we would need to respond should there be an impact – I’m conditioned to do that. And everyone around me was calm. If we were in a restaurant in New York City, there would be panic. It amazed me,” he said.
After retiring from the US Navy in 2018, Rogers quickly gravitated toward Israel’s hi-tech sector.
“It was a strategic thought process. I wanted to stay involved in technology, defense, and national security. I spent a lot of time working in various nations and various defense ecosystems,” he said.
He joined Team8, the Tel Aviv-based venture capital firm created by veterans of Unit 8200, Israel’s elite signal intelligence unit. As an operating partner, Rogers advised start-ups on global expansion and helped shape strategies related to cyberdefense and intelligence.
His move to Team8 was not without controversy. Some former NSA colleagues criticized his decision to join a firm so closely linked to Unit 8200, arguing it blurred lines between US intelligence leadership and foreign military-linked ventures.
But Rogers has defended his role as part of a broader mission to foster global collaboration in cybersecurity, stressing that threats are transnational and require partnerships across borders. While Israel and the United States have enjoyed a clear technological advantage over the past few decades, adversaries continue to work to overcome and negate that technology.
“What happens if that [technological advantage] is not the case? If we face adversaries who are technologically peers, or even better? What does that mean for us? We cannot assume that we will always have the technological advantage,” he said.
According to Rogers, the large defense companies with their strong capabilities, capacities, and capital are “no longer enough.”
“We need to access a broader range of partners and technologies. We are using assets that are costing billions of dollars to take down cheaper assets. That’s not cost-effective. We need capabilities faster at a larger scale and cheaper,” he said. “That’s a key for the future.”
Rogers added that the traditional models “aren’t enough anymore” to handle problems and enemies that will only grow in complity and challenges.
“We need a different approach.”
But, Rogers warned, “don’t ever be seduced by technology. It’s an important element of defense, but it is not an end-all and be-all. Don’t fall into the trap that technology has given you the ultimate advantage.”
Combining American intelligence leadership with Israeli defense expertise
In a move that blends American intelligence leadership with Israeli defense expertise, Rogers has stepped into the private sector as a senior partner at Aurelius Capital, a newly unveiled investment fund headquartered in Tel Aviv, New York, and London.
The fund, which emerged from stealth in October 2025, completed an initial $50 million raise and is targeting $150m. to back start-ups in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and space technologies.
The leadership roster reads like a who’s who of defense and intelligence. Rogers is joined by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amir Eshel, former commander of the Israel Air Force, and Udi Lavi, former deputy director of the Mossad. The fund is spearheaded by Alon Lifshitz and Tomer Jacob, partners at Hanaco Ventures, who bring decades of venture capital and corporate finance experience.
Rogers’s presence at Aurelius is particularly significant. Having steered the NSA through the fallout of the Snowden leaks and led US cyberoperations against Russian interference, he now brings that strategic lens to Israel’s defense-tech ecosystem.
Rogers told D&T that he didn’t want to get involved with the defense-tech scene until he saw “the power of innovation on the battlefield.”
And Aurelius Capital positions itself as more than a traditional VC firm. According to Rogers, it combines cutting-edge leadership, venture capital agility, and private-equity depth, aiming to incubate companies that can scale globally while meeting urgent defense requirements.
The timing of Aurelius’s launch reflects a growing urgency in global security circles. With ongoing conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and rising threats to critical infrastructure, the appetite for defense-tech innovation is surging. Aurelius aims to be a key player in meeting these challenges head-on.
This global awakening has led to unprecedented defense spending. And Aurelius is designed to meet this momentum, with the fund’s strategy built on speed and flexibility and targeting companies with clear dual-use applications. The fund, Lifshitz told D&T in a recent interview, focuses on “shields, not swords,” investing in cybersecurity, drone detection, and other nonlethal technologies.
“What we are seeing in the last year or so is the next era of defense. It’s when national security needs meet deep tech,” Lifshitz explained, adding that the geopolitics of the past few years “was like the perfect storm. Mega powers weren’t able to win wars (e.g., Russia vs Ukraine, Israel vs Hamas), the geopolitical tensions in Asia are extremely high, and the Chinese military is a huge user of deep tech and advanced technologies with AI.”
The fund’s mission is clear to Lifshitz.
“We want to secure the future of Israel. Since October 7, our ability to give back is by supporting and building the new era of defense tech through defense and civilian dual-use companies,” he said. “Whatever secures the future of
Israel will secure the future of the US, too.”
Israel’s defense sector has long been fueled by talent from the military, including Unit 8200. Aurelius seeks to harness that pipeline while offering start-ups access to international markets and strategic guidance from figures like Rogers.
“Israel has proven its resilience, time and again,” Rogers noted, praising the country’s ability to innovate under pressure and adapt rapidly to evolving threats. And while over 300 start-ups have been founded since the onset of the
Israel-Hamas War, with talk of possible defense tech being only hype, Rogers was adamant that this is the way forward.
“Defense tech isn’t hype. Look at the scale of investment around the world. This is something deeper, fundamental. A lot of companies, not all, will succeed. There will be a high percentage of failures. Start-ups aren’t for the faint of heart; it’s a way of life. But Israel has gone through crises and wars, and necessity is the mother of invention,” he said.
“I have real respect for the country and the people here,” Rogers said. “I love the innovative spirit, and not only in defense. Innovation is in Israel’s culture.”