Yoram Schweitzer

Yoram Schweitzer is a Senior Research Fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He is the Director of the Institute's Terrorism and Low-Intensity Warfare Research Project, and is a senior consultant to NATO on matters of counterterrorism. Schweitzer's areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, Al Qaeda and its affiliates--the so-called "Afghan Alumni"--and state sponsored terrorism. Additionally, Schweitzer is regarded as one of Israel's foremost authorities on suicide terrorism, particularly female suicide terrorism.

Bio

Between 1987 to 1988, Schweitzer headed the International Terrorism wing of the Israeli Defence Force's Military Intelligence Division. During these years, he also served as a ranking member of the Israeli Prime Minister's MIA task force as well as the C/O of the Academic Studies division of the Military Correspondents Section of the IDF Spokesperson Brigade. Subsequently Schweitzer served as the Director of Education at Herzliya's international Institute for Counter-Terrorism, before being tapped as a special consultant to the Prime Minister's office on matters of counter-terrorism. In 2003, commensurate with his relocation to the INSS, Schweitzer founded his own counterterrorism consultancy, "labat", hebrew for "fighting terror". Through Labat, Mr. Schweitzer has contracted to consult a variety of organizations in both the public and private sector, ranging from police departments worldwide to the Olympic committee and the British House of Commons.

Current Research

Mr. Schweitzer is often considered a hardheaded iconoclast, whose opinions cannot be easily categorized as liberal or conservative, hawkish or dovish. Thus, on the one hand, Mr. Schweitzer was an early and outspoken advocate of dealing with the Hamas Regime, a notion anathema to many in Israel. In like kind, through his research into female suicide bombers, Schweitzer has shed light on a topic often avoided in even the most liberal circles. Conversely, however, Schweitzer is something of a hardliner, in matters pertaining to Iran and its proxy Hizbolla.Schweitzer is currently exploring, and publishing, three main areas:

Suicide Terrorism: In furtherance of his exploration of the mind of the suicide bomber and the aims and strategies of those who dispatch them, over the last three years, Schweitzer conducted an extensive series of interviews with failed suicide bombers and their dispathers.

Psychological warfare in GWOT: Mr. Schweitzer is currently exploring the propaganda campaigns being deployed by Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

The tactical and strategic lessons to be gleaned from the sub-conventional campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Notable Publications:

* "The Globalization of Terror: The Challenge of Al - Qaida and the Response of the International Community" (co authored with Shaul Shay, 2003).
* "Al-Qaeda and the Internationalization of Suicide Terrorism" (with Sari Goldsetin Ferber, 2005)
* Ed: "Female Suicide Bombers: Dying for Equality?" (2006).

External links

* http://www.labat.co.il
* http://www.inss.org.il/experts.php?cat=0&incat=&staff_id=21
* http://www.inss.org.il/programs.php?cat=130