Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin is Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. He has served as the Executive Director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University over the past decade, from November 2011 to May 2021. As the head of INSS, he positioned the Institute as a leading think tank, ranked first among think tanks in Israel and the Middle East, and ranked twelfth among think tanks worldwide on issues of defence and national security.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) served in the Israel Defense Forces for 40 years, eight of which he was a member of the IDF General Staff. From 2006-2010, he served as the IDF’s chief of Defense Intelligence. Prior to that, he served as Israel Defense Attaché to the United States. In February 2002, he earned the rank of major general and was named commander of the IDF Military Colleges and the National Defense College.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin, a former deputy commander of the Israel Air Force, has commanded two fighter squadrons and two airbases. He accumulated about 5,000 flight hours and flew more than 250 combat missions behind enemy lines. He participated in the Yom Kippur War (1973), Operation Peace for the Galilee (1982), and Operation Tamuz – the destruction of the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq (1981).

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin earned a BA with honours in economics and business administration from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (1985). He also holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.