International Security Archives Creators & Guests

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is a journalistAbdul-Ahad began his career after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He has written for The Guardian and The Washington Post, both from his native Iraq and from Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.Abdul-Ahad's photographs have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Times (London), and other media outlets.Abdul-Ahad received the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, the James Cameron Memorial Trust Award, the British Press Awards' Foreign Reporter of the Year and the Orwell Prize.

Yasodara Córdova (born 1980), also known as Yaso, is an activist, coder, designer and researcher. Her work has focused on technologies to improve the democratic process, using open data, online identity, and privacy approaches.

Dr. Amr Al Azm is an associate professor of Middle East History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio.From 1999-2004, Al Azm was the director of Scientific and Conservation Laboratories at the General Department of Antiquities and Museums in Syria. He taught at the University of Damascus until 2006, when he became a visiting assistant professor at Brigham Young University. Al Azm is an active member of the Syrian opposition and serves on the executive committee of the Day After Project.Al Azm received his B.A. in Archaeology of Western Asia and his M.Sc. in Bioarchaeology from the University of London Institute of Archaeology, and his Ph.D. in Archaeologyfrom the University of London.

Michael Idov is a writer and composer.Idov was a contributing writer at New York Magazine and the editor-in-chief of RUSSIA!, an English-language quarterly highlighting Russian art and design.Idov's writing has appeared in Slate, Vogue, Pitchfork Media, NPR, the New Republic and Moscow's Bolshoi Gorod. His first novel, "Ground Up," was published in 2009, and his memoir, "Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow," was published in 2018.Idov's rock band Spielerfrau has release two albums. He has also composed music for films.Idov received his B.A. in film studies from the University of Michigan.

Jonathan Guyer is a journalist. Currently, he reports for Vox Media, where he writes about U.S. foreign policy, U.S. national security, and the world.Previously, Guyer was Managing Editor for The American Prospect. Before that, he was a freelance journalist in the United States and in the Middle East.Guyer received his B.A. in Development Studies from Brown University, where he reported for the Brown Daily Herald.