Dr. Michael Yaffe is vice president of civic engagement and scholarship at USIP. In this capacity, he manages programs connecting the American public to the Institute, special initiatives, exhibitions, peacebuilding awards and recognition, grants, fellowships, and scholarships.

He previously served as the vice president for USIP’s Middle East and Africa programs and, after standing up the Africa Center in October 2020, as the vice president of the Institute’s Middle East and North Africa Center. 

Before joining USIP, Dr. Yaffe served in a variety of positions in the U.S. government, most recently as a senior advisor to both the special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and the special envoy for Middle East peace at the U.S. Department of State. He also spent time as an academic dean and distinguished professor of strategic studies at the National Defense University.

Previously, Dr. Yaffe was a career foreign affairs officer at the State Department concentrating on Middle East peace negotiations, regional security and nonproliferation and served on U.S. delegations to the “Madrid” Middle East arms control and regional security talks, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and NATO. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, he served as a coordinator on the counterterrorism task force in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Dr. Yaffe also assisted Operation Restore Hope by managing a program in Mogadishu in support of U.S. forces in Somalia.

During his 25-year career with the U.S. government, Dr. Yaffe was the recipient of several State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, as well Department of Defense commendations. Prior to joining the State Department, he was a national security fellow at Harvard University’s Olin Institute and an international security fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He was a nuclear history program research awardee at Harvard and a Salvatori fellow at the University of Pennsylvania; as well as an American Friends of the London School of Economics scholar and a USIP peace scholar.

Dr. Yaffe earned a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s from the London School of Economics and bachelor’s from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has published numerous articles and testified before Congress on the Middle East, Africa, security, arms control, non-proliferation, track two negotiations and diplomatic history.