Wurmser to head new Center program on global anti-Semitism

DAVID WURMSER JOINS THE CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY TO HEAD NEW PROGRAM ON FIGHTING GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM AND DEFENDING THE U.S. ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP

***PRESS RELEASE***

For Immediate Release

January 21, 2020

Contact: Adam Savit at [email protected] or (202) 835–9077

Washington, D.C. – Middle East expert David Wurmser has joined the Center for Security Policy as a Senior Analyst and the Director of the Center’s Project on Global Anti-Semitism and the U.S.-Israel Relationship.

The Project on Global Anti-Semitism and the U.S.-Israel Relationship is an important new Center initiative to address a surge in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the United States and abroad as well as growing efforts to undermine the close relationship between the U.S. and Israel.  The purpose of this project is to educate the American people and elected officials about the threats that anti-Semitism poses to religious freedom and U.S. national security, and to prevent the enormous rise of anti-Semitism and hostility toward Israel that has occurred in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, from occurring in the U.S.

Dr. Wurmser is exceptionally well qualified to lead this crucial project.  He has over 35 years of experience in foreign policy with the State Department, Department of Defense, the National Security Council and the American Enterprise Institute.  He is a well-known expert on Middle East issues, especially the U.S.- Israel relationship.

From December 2018 until September 2019, Wurmser also served as senior advisor to U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton. Recently he was credited for authoring a series of memoranda for the White House to provide the rationale for striking hard at the Iranian regime, including the elimination of Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani. Wurmser served as Middle East Adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney from 2003-2007.  He also served as a special assistant to Bolton when he was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control in the George W. Bush administration and as a research fellow on the Middle East at the American Enterprise Institute from 2002-2003.Immediately following the 9/11 attacks, Wurmser consulted for the Office of the Secretary of Defense on a war‐related classified project on understanding the nature and strategic significance of terrorist group networks and their interactions with states.

Wurmser served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was mobilized during the Operational Vigilant Warrior following Iraq’s surge toward Kuwait in 1994 to serve on the Iraq Intelligence Task for the DIA. He was mobilized twice more for the same task force in 1996 and 1998 ‐‐ for which the Department of Defense awarded him the prestigious Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

Dr. Wurmser holds a Ph.D. in U.S. Foreign Policy and Middle East affairs from Johns Hopkins University.  He is a prolific writer and has done many TV and radio interviews.  He is the author of the 1999 book Tyranny’s Ally: America’s Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein, which the New Yorker called the intellectual framework for President Bush’s freedom strategy the Middle East.

Center for Security Policy President Fred Fleitz said about David Wurmser joining the Center:

“It’s exciting to have David Wurmser at the Center for Security Policy to lead one of the most important programs the Center has ever launched, the Project on Global Anti-Semitism and the U.S.-Israel Relationship.  We can’t overstate the urgency of this project given the recent surge in global anti-Semitism and efforts to undermine America’s crucial relationship with Israel.  The Center is extremely fortunate to welcome an expert with such exceptional qualifications to head this crucial project.”

For more information or to book Dr. Wurmser for media interviews, contact Adam Savit at [email protected] or (202) 835–9077.