Youssef Aboul-Enein

Biography

Youssef leverages over 30 years of intelligence and national security experience training and advising the US military and federal agencies up to the National Security Council on the Middle East and North Africa. He takes great pride in shaping America’s future intelligence analysts, operators, military leaders and serves as Doctoral Leader-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Prior to teaching at Hood, Youssef served the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a Senior Analyst from 2023 to 2025. While at CIA, Youssef analyzed and advised the interagency on complex regional conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, providing finished intelligence products to policymakers. Some of his analytical insights were included in the President’s Daily Brief. He also had the privilege of training CIA officers on terrorist groups and other national security threats and was a frequent guest lecturer at the agency’s Directorate of Operations and Directorate of Analysis training programs. Prior to joining CIA, Youssef taught intelligence analysis at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Academy for Defense Intelligence. He is a Middle East Subject Matter Expert, and the author and co-author of seven books, most notably “Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat,” and “Middle East 101:  A Beginner’s Guide for Deployers, Travelers and Concerned Citizens.” The first book was ranked among the top 150 most influential books on terrorism by the journal, Perspectives on Terrorism. The other answers 101 essential questions on the Mid-East and was listed in the Military Officer’s Association of America (MOAA) Magazine’s essential Summer 2020 reading for military professionals.

During 28 years on active-duty, Youssef served as Country Director for North Africa and Egypt, and Assistant Country Director for the Arabian Gulf at the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2002 to 2006. He advised the Secretary of Defense on matters involving US defense policy towards the Middle East and North Africa. Youssef also served as Senior Counterterrorism Analytic Advisor at DIA’s Defense Combating Terrorism Center (DCTC). At DCTC, he contributed to an array of counterterrorism intelligence products that informed combatant commanders and the Joint Staff during the 2011 Arab Spring Uprisings. He also prepared congressional testimony and served as an expert government witness on Al-Qaida in various trials, most notably in the 2013 courts martial United States v. PFC Bradley Manning. He provided linguistic support to the President of the United States in 2014 Chiefs of Defense meetings that gave rise to the counter-ISIS coalition.

At the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Youssef prepared Defense Department officials engage in ministerial level talks with counterparts from Morocco to the Persian Gulf as part of an interagency effort laying the groundwork for these countries to support the Global War on Terrorism. He also trained and advised active and reserve units deploying to the Middle East. Youssef is proficient in several dialects of Arabic and used this skill to help the US military interpret the writings and speeches of al-Qaida and ISIS leaders, including Usama Bin Ladin and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Youssef made it his mission to expose the ideas of Arab generals and their military perspectives in the pages of various US professional military publications.

Youssef earned a B.B.A from the University of Mississippi and graduated with master’s degrees in business and healthcare administration from the University of Arkansas before joining the US Navy. While on active duty, he earned two master's in strategic intelligence and national security from the National Intelligence University and Industrial College of the Armed Forces where he later taught graduate level courses in both institutions. Youssef earned his Doctorate in Organization Leadership from Hood College, and his doctoral dissertation focused on one of Saddam Hussein’s most intellectual generals.

Youssef is a 9-11 pentagon survivor, and veteran of conflicts in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. He received numerous personal, campaign, and expeditionary awards. His wife Cheryl is a retired public-school teacher; the couple have two adult children who serve in the federal government.