About the Department

Chuck Freilich was a Deputy National Security Adviser in Israel. He is now a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he is now completing a book on Israeli national security decision making. Chuck’s primary areas of expertise are the Middle East, US Mid East policy and Israeli national security policy. He has appeared as a commentator on TV and radio, including CNN, ABC, NPR, El Jezira and Israeli TV, has been quoted in the NY Times and other papers, published numerous op-eds and speaks regularly at various academic and other forums. He has written exensively about the Iranian nuclear program and its ramifications for the US, Israel and the Middle East.
Chuck was a Senior Analyst at the Israel Ministry of Defense, focusing on strategic affairs, Policy Advisor to a cabinet minister and a Delegate at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations. He has been the Executive Director of two non profits, Israel’s Zahavi Association, dealing in lobbying, educational and consumer programs on behalf of underprivileged families, and the Golda Meir Association, in the US, an “American Friends” counterpart of its parent Israeli educational organization. He served in the Israel Defense Forces for five years and is a reserve major.
Chuck earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University, writing his dissertation on “Realism and Messianism; National Security Decision Making in Israel”. Born in New York, he immigrated to Israel in 1969.