Washington Institute For Near East Policy

Linda and tony rubin program on arab politics: the linda and tony rubin program on arab politics focuses on political, social, economic, and security-related developments in the arab world, a geographic area stretching from north africa to iraq. In 2024, the program focused on the hezbollah-israel war and ceasefire; changes in lebanon's political leadership; the regional impact of the gaza war; conflict between jordan and the kingdom's islamists; the houthi threat in the red sea; the war in syria and the fall of the assad regime; us relations with iraq and the future of the us military deployment there; elections in kurdistan; egyptian-israeli relations and egypt's economic crisis; libya's ongoing political stalemate; presidential elections and democratic backsliding in tunisia, and; political and economic developments in morocco.david schenker directed the program with the support of 5 full-time senior fellows, cross-collaboration with fellows from other programs, visiting fellows, and non-resident associates. All told, in 2024, 18 institute scholars, associates, and consultants also contributed to the work of the arab politics program. The program's scholars appeared frequently on u.s. And regional television and radio, as well as in media outlets in the middle east. The institute published 85 articles/publications by program participants and associates on its website, many of which first appeared in other online publication sites and major news outlets. The program held frequent events and convened 20 private roundtables on a broad range of topics attended by executive branch personnel, ngo stakeholders, international officials, and the washington policymaking community. In addition, the institute also hosted 8 virtual policy forum panels and produced 6 videos focused on important policy issues related to syria.

Jeanette and eli reinhard program on counterterrorism and intelligence: the jeanette and eli reinhard program on counterterrorism and intelligence (cti) focuses on providing policy-relevant analysis of key terrorism and intelligence issues and trends, especially as they relate to u.s. Policy toward the middle east. The research and production plan of cti is focused on five key issue areas: (1) global jihadist movement terrorism (al qaeda, islamic state); (2) terrorism in the arab-israeli arena (hamas, palestinian islamic jihad, jewish extremists); (3) iranian sponsorship of terrorism (hezbollah, iran's revolutionary guard and qods force); (4) combating the financing of transnational threats (terror finance, proliferation finance, iran sanctions, jcpoa); (5) countering violent extremism (counter-radicalization). Over the course of 2024, the cti team produced a regular flow of timely written analyses, maintained regular contact with u.s. Government officials, engaged with the media, briefed u.s. And foreign government officials, hosted both public and private events, and traveled abroad to conduct research and attend conferences.the cti program is led by dr. Matthew levitt, the founding director of the program who came to the washington institute from the fbi, where he had served as a counterterrorism analyst and played leading roles in the investigations of the millennial bomb plot and september 11 attacks. The program also includes fellows aaron zelin, who focuses primarily on trends in global salafi jihadism, and devorah margolin, who works on issues surrounding repatriation and the impact of extremism on women and children.in addition, in 2024, 11 institute scholars and 6 associates and consultants also contributed to the work of the cti program. Cti senior fellows appeared frequently on television and radio, especially in the months following israeli operations in lebanon and the fall of president bashar al-assad in syria, and testified before congress on one occasion. The institute published more than 32 articles/publications by program participants on its website, with many of the articles appearing in other online publication sites and news outlets.additionally, both seasons of matthew levitt's podcast, "breaking hezbollah's golden rule," combined received over 37,000 downloads between january and december 2024. The program held 4 policy forums, 28 countering violent extremism roundtables, and 18 combating financing of terrorism roundtables. Additionally, the program launched the iranian external operations interactive map.

Viterbi program on iran and u.s. Policy

Diane and guilford glazer foundation program on great power competition and the middle east

Bernstein program on gulf and energy policy

Military and security studies program

Turkish research program

Project fikra (defeating extremism through the power of ideas)