Dr. Neda Bolourchi is an award-winning Middle East scholar and U.S. foreign policy expert with 10+ years advising executive leaders across government, think tanks, academia, and the private sector on high-stakes security challenges — including sanctions, escalation dynamics, and regional stability — with a focus on Iran, Syria, Iraq, Israel, and the Persian Gulf.

She has served as a senior advisor and consulting technical expert to the U.S. Department of Defense (CENTCOM) and the U.S. Department of State, delivering executive-level strategic analysis and policy briefings. Her work also includes advising UN missions, partners, and multinational clients navigating geopolitical, regulatory, and operational risk.

A former human rights attorney and nonprofit executive, she currently serves as Executive Director of a national 501(c)(3) organization briefing Members of Congress and Executive Branch officials on nonproliferation, human rights, emerging technology, and U.S. national security strategy.

She is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Institute for Global Affairs (IGA), Eurasia Group’s nonprofit think tank, focused on how emerging technologies and defense integration are reshaping U.S. strategy and escalation risk in the Middle East.

Her research has been supported by three Andrew W. Mellon Foundation fellowships, among others. She conducted extensive field research across the Middle East, including years on the ground in Iran and Syria for her doctoral dissertation (Columbia University), with scholarship examining state formation, social networks and mobilization, minorities and nationalism, and political theology.

Dr. Bolourchi’s foreign policy and security analysis has appeared in Jane’s publications and in outlets including the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Congressional Quarterly’s Political Handbook of the World, Praeger Security, the Atlantic Council, and Foreign Policy Research Institute, among others. She has provided commentary and analysis for the BBC, USA Today, Al Arabiya, Iran Interntional, and Al Jazeera, among others.

Earlier in her career, she worked in civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense.
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