Project Connect: The Russia-Iran Dynamic

Dr. Michael Connell
Principal Research Scientist, Center for Naval Analyses (CNA)

Dr. Michael Connell is a specialist in Russia and the Middle East. His primary area of expertise is the armed forces of Iran and Russia, and he has published extensively both inside and outside of CNA on these topics. At CNA he has directed more than 60 research projects for a variety of DOD and interagency sponsors. This work has spanned a variety of subjects, including adversary military capabilities and intentions, strategic signaling, security cooperation and engagement, space and counterspace operations, U.S. force posture alternatives, and cyber operations. He previously served as CNA’s field representative to the headquarters of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Bahrain. Prior to joining CNA, Connell was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. Connell earned his doctorate in history and Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University and his Bachelor of Arts in Near Eastern studies from Brandeis University.

Dr. Hanna Notte
Senior Research Associate, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)

Dr. Hanna Notte is a Senior Research Associate at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation and a Senior Associate (non-resident) in the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC. She holds a doctorate and MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University and a BA in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University. Her work focuses on Russian foreign policy, Russia’s relations with the Global South broadly and the Middle East in particular, Russian approaches to arms control and nonproliferation, and Russian military innovation. Her contributions have appeared in The Nonproliferation Review, Foreign Policy, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and War on the Rocks, among others. She is the co-author of Death Dust: The Rise, Demise, and Future of Radiological Weapons Programs, forthcoming with Stanford University Press (2023). Notte previously worked with The Shaikh Group, an NGO focused on informal diplomacy in Middle East conflicts, supporting its engagement with Russia. She was a visiting researcher in 2015–16 with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Carnegie Moscow Center. She is proficient in Russian and Arabic. Hanna Notte is based in Berlin. 

Jim Lamson
Senior Research Associate, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)

Jim Lamson is a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). His research focuses on Iranian weapons, space, and military issues, and Iran's security and arms control policies. Prior to joining CNS, he worked for 23 years as an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, focusing on Iranian weapons and military issues, and served for more than five years in the Middle East. Before that, he worked on nonproliferation issues at CNS, the Conference on Disarmament, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and U.S. Department of State. He holds an MA in international policy studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and an MS in national resource strategy from the National Defense University.

Dr. Dima Adamsky
Associate Professor, Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the IDC Herzliya

Dr. Dmitry (Dima) Adamsky is a full professor at the School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy and the Head of the BA Honors Track in Strategic Studies, at the Reichman University, Israel.  He has previously been affiliated with Harvard and Columbia Universities, the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, and the University of Zurich. He has published on military innovations, strategic culture, nuclear strategy, and U.S., Russian and Israeli national security in Foreign Affairs, Security Studies, Journal of Strategic Studies, Survival, IFRI Notes, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Russian Analytical Digest, Intelligence and National Security, Defense and Security Studies, Washington Quarterly, Slavic Military Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, and Cold War History. His books Operation Kavkaz (Maarachot, 2006) and The Culture of Military Innovation (Stanford UP, 2010) earned the annual prizes for the best academic works on Israeli security. His book Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics and Strategy (Stanford UP, 2019) won the 2020 ISA best book award in the category of religion and International Relations. His latest book is The Russian Way of Deterrence: Strategic Culture, Coercion and War (Stanford UP, 2023). His forthcoming book The New Commissars (Cambridge UP) explores militarization of politics and politization of military in Russia.