Jacob Olidort

Jacob Olidort is Director of Research at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy.

Olidort served in a range of national security roles across the U.S. government, including in the Office of former Vice President Mike Pence and as foreign policy advisor to two U.S. Senators. He also served in the Central Intelligence Agency and as an advisor on Middle East policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Outside of government, Olidort was Director of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute and was a Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He taught at American University and at George Washington University, and was a term member in the Council on Foreign Relations, a Fulbright Scholar to the United Arab Emirates, and a Rhodes Scholarship finalist. Olidort holds a B.A. in History and Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, magna cum laude, from Brandeis University, an A.M. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.