Michael Wahid Hanna Program Director, U.S. Please submit all media inquiries to media@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role As U.S. Program Director, Michael Wahid Hanna leads the organisation’s research, analysis, policy prescription and advocacy on U.S. foreign policy in conflict settings. He joined Crisis Group in May 2021. Professional Background Hanna works on issues of international security, international law, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law. He has published widely on U.S. foreign policy in newspapers and journals, including articles in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Democracy, Middle East Report, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Survival, among other publications. Prior to joining Crisis Group, Hanna was a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. He served as a consultant for Human Rights Watch in Baghdad in 2008. Previously, Hanna was a senior fellow at the International Human Rights Law Institute. From 1999 to 2004, Hanna practiced corporate law with the New York law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Fluent in Arabic, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Cairo University. He received a JD from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Law Review. Select Publications Hybrid Actors: Armed Groups and State Fragmentation in the Middle East (2019) Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in the Middle East (2019) Order from Ashes: New Foundations for Security in the Middle East (2018) Arab Politics Beyond the Uprisings: Experiments in an Era of Resurgent Authoritarianism (2017) Languages English Arabic (fluent) In The News 10 May 2022 Egypt is something of a special case vis-a-vis the West because of both its robust relations with Russia and being a key US partner in the Middle East. The National Michael Wahid Hanna Program Director, U.S. 1 Sep 2021 The swiftness of the fall of Afghanistan in Taliban hands and the way the Americans pulled out is a black eye. But it’s not going to be irreparable. The National Michael Wahid Hanna Program Director, U.S. 12 Jul 2021 Egypt’s more constructive and pragmatic regional role in recent months has produced good will and breathing space for Cairo, but at root this approach to regional affairs is reflective of Egypt’s own self-interests and not a byproduct of its relationship with the United States. Politico Michael Wahid Hanna Program Director, U.S. Latest Updates Q&A / Europe & Central Asia 7 March 2022 No-Fly Zone in Ukraine: War with Russia by Another Name Some current and former officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, call for Western powers to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. This Q&A explains what a no-fly zone would entail, where similar zones have been established before and the dangers of that option in Ukraine. Op-Ed / Africa 2 March 2022 The U.S. Must Raise the Stakes for Sudan’s Coup Leaders Originally published in WPR Commentary / Middle East & North Africa 13 September 2021 How the Counter-terrorism Imperative Has Warped U.S.-Egyptian Ties The conflict in Egypt’s Sinai offers insights into U.S. foreign policy priorities. As part of our series The Legacy of 9/11 and the “War on Terror”, Michael Wahid Hanna argues Cairo has used the jihadist spectre to scare off critics and keep U.S. military aid flowing. Op-Ed / Middle East & North Africa 19 August 2021 The Shattering of Yemen: Why Ending the War Is More Difficult Than Ever Originally published in Foreign Affairs Podcast / United States 24 June 2021 Biden in Europe This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to Crisis Group U.S. Director Michael Hanna about President Biden’s trip to Europe and what it revealed about his foreign policy priorities, especially with respect to Russia and China.