Yoram Schweitzer is an Israeli intelligence official who is a senior research fellow at Israel'sInstitute for National Security Studies (INSS) and is director of the institute's Research Program: Terrorism and Low-Intensity Conflict.[1]
During 2017, Schweitzer was to be a visiting fellow at theCenter for American Progress.[2] Formerly, he served as a senior Military Intelligence officer and private consultant to the Office of thePrime Minister of Israel.
Schweitzer's areas of research include theSalafi Jihadi “camp” including TheIslamic State (Daesh) and its subjected partners;Al Qaeda[3] and its affiliates;Hezbollah; and Palestinian terror groups. He is an authority on terror related topics, including suicide[4][5] bombings in which he conducted a project interviewing attemptedsuicide bombers and their dispatchers.
From 1987 to 1998, Schweitzer intermittently headed the International Terrorism[6] Section of theIsraeli Defense Force's Military Intelligence Directorate. During these years, he also served as a ranking member of the Israeli prime minister's MIA task force. Subsequently, Schweitzer served both as the director of education atHerzliya's Institute[7] for Counter-Terrorism, and as a private consultant to the Prime Minister's office on matters of counter-terrorism. In 2003 he joined the INSS, then the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies. . Schweitzer holds the rank of lieutenant colonel (Lt-Col) in the IDF, and continues to serve in the IDF's reserve forces in his field of expertise.
Schweitzer is currently researching and publishing in the following areas:
Salafiya Jihadia: . Schweitzer is analyzing the brand of global terrorism launched by groups adhering to this belief and its attendantideology.
Suicide attacks: Schweitzer has explored and probed the mind of the suicide bomber as well as the aims and strategies of those who dispatch them. He conducted a three-year-long project comprising in-depth studies, analyses and interviews with attempted suicide bombers,[8] suicide-bombing dispatchers, and leaders of Palestinian terror organizations. This included leaders in Israeli prisons, and others who were released as part of the exchange deal to secure the freedom ofGilad Shalit. Mr. Schweitzer is an authority on female and underage suicide bombers.
Hostage Negotiation/MIA: Pursuant to his service in official capacities in these areas, Schweitzer continues to conduct research on the related topics of hostages and negotiations for their release.[9]
Psychological warfare: Schweitzer is currently studying and analyzing thepropaganda campaigns being deployed by the Islamic State as well as by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.[10][11][12]
Sub-conventional warfare: Mr. Schweitzer is currently exploring the tactical and strategic lessons from the campaigns inIraq andAfghanistan.[13]
