Levitt, Matthew 1970-

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Levitt, Matthew 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born 1970. Education: Yeshiva University, B.A., 1988; Tufts University, M.A., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1828 L St. N.W., Ste. 1050, Washington, DC 20036. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author and intelligence analyst. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, DC, counterterrorism intelligence analyst; Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, DC, founding director of Terrorism Research Program, 2001-05, fellow and director of Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence, and Policy, 2007—; U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC, deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis, 2005-07. Has taught at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences; lecturer for U.S. Department of State; expert witness for U.S. Department of Justice; member of Council on Foreign Relations; member of international advisory board for Institute for Counter-Terrorism and International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research; fellow for Combating Terrorism Center; consultant for U.S. government agencies and private companies. Commentator on television and radio.

WRITINGS:

Targeting Terror: U.S. Policy toward Middle Eastern State Sponsors and Terrorist Organizations, Post-September 11, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Washington, DC), 2002.

Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, foreword by Dennis Ross, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2006.

Contributor to books, including The Making of a Terrorist: Recruitment, Training, and Root Causes, Praeger (New York, NY), 2005; and Terrorism Financing and State Responses: A Comparative Perspective, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2007. Contributor to periodicals, including Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Weekly Standard, Daily Star, Jerusalem Post, Australian, and National Post.

SIDELIGHTS:

Matthew Levitt, a former intelligence analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, writes widely on international terrorism, the Middle East, and Arab-Israeli relations. In the monograph Targeting Terror: U.S. Policy toward Middle Eastern State Sponsors and Terrorist Organizations, Post-September 11, Levitt examines the government's approach to such nations as Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The author "argues that the US should … fight an expansive, multi-front war" against state-sponsored terror, observed Sam Brannen in the Middle East Journal. According to Middle East Quarterly critic Rita Katz, the work "is a compelling and informative analysis that readers in government and media, especially, will find useful."

In Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, Levitt traces the history of the governing agent of the Palestinian Authority and assesses its operations, funding, and organization. In the work, the author "offers a sobering analysis of the group's likely priorities and of the quickly dimming prospects for peace" in the region, remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer. "Levitt urges his readers to recognize clearly the indispensable interdependence between Hamas's welfare and terror," wrote Zachary T. Irwin in Library Journal, and New York Sun contributor Michael Rubin similarly noted that the author "lays bare the popular notion preached by European diplomats that Hamas sports distinct political, social, and military wings, or that it differentiates between military and civilian targets." Though New York Times Book Review contributor Steven Erlanger felt that Levitt depended heavily on Israeli intelligence sources while researching the book, he noted that the work "contains useful information about the background of Hamas and how it has bankrolled itself, portraits of key leaders and interesting excerpts from captured documents and United States government files."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, June 15, 2006, Zachary T. Irwin, review of Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, p. 88.

Middle East Journal, spring, 2003, Sam Brannen, review of Targeting Terror: U.S. Policy toward Middle Eastern State Sponsors and Terrorist Organizations, Post-September 11.

Middle East Quarterly, summer, 2003, Rita Katz, review of Targeting Terror.

New York Sun, June 25, 2006, Michael Rubin, "Popular Notions Laid Bare," review of Hamas.

New York Times Book Review, June 25, 2006, Steven Erlanger, "Militant Zeal," review of Hamas, p. 10.

Publishers Weekly, April 3, 2006, review of Hamas, p. 58.