Jacob Olidort

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT JACOB OLIDORT

Dr. Jacob Olidort serves as Chief Research Officer of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and as Director of AFPI’s American Security policy team. A Middle East expert, Jacob has spent over a decade working on national security issues in and outside of government.His government service includes tours as foreign policy advisor to Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), and as an advisor in the Office of former Vice President Mike Pence and in the Department of Defense.Outside of government, Jacob was Director of Research at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense & Strategy and earlier in his career was a Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He was a Fulbright Scholar in the United Arab Emirates, a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, and a term member in the Council on Foreign Relations.Jacob taught both graduate and undergraduate courses on counterterrorism and national security at American University and at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.Jacob’s commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs, among other outlets.Jacob received his B.A. in History and Islamic and Middle East Studies, magna cum laude, from Brandeis University, his A.M. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.