Project Connect: Russia-Iran

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

Dr. Dmitry (Dima) Adamsky is Associate Professor at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the IDC Herzliya, and is a Head of the BA Honors Track in Strategy and Decision Making. Prior to joining the school he has been a pre- and post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University, a visiting fellow at the Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University and at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies. His research interests include international security, strategic studies, cultural approach to IR, modern military thought, nuclear strategy, American, Russian and Israeli national security policy. He has published on these topics in Foreign Affairs, Journal of Strategic Studies, Intelligence and National Security, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Journal of Cold War History, and Defense and Security Studies. His books Operation Kavkaz (Hebrew) and The Culture of Military Innovation (Stanford UP) earned the annual (2006 and 2012) prizes for the best academic works on Israeli security. He is currently working on a book on Religion and Strategy. In addition to his academic career, in his positions in the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the IDF, Dr. Adamsky has carried out intelligence analysis and strategic policy planning. In the latter capacity, he served as assistant secretary of the committee charged with formulating Israel’s national security concept (Dan Meridor Committee).

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.