Sara Harmouch

Dr. Sara Harmouch is the CEO of H9 Defense, a research and advisory consultancy specializing in national security, counterterrorism, geopolitical risk, threat assessments, and open-source intelligence (OSINT). A counterterrorism expert and national security researcher, she focuses on political violence, terrorism, militancy, armed groups, Islamist militant organizations, irregular warfare, non-state actor behavior, alliance dynamics, and the conditions under which militant groups shift from domestic to international violence. Her work also examines the intersection of terrorism, emerging technologies, unconventional capabilities, and weapons of mass destruction, with attention to how militant organizations adapt, endure, expand operationally, and interact with other actors. She is a Security Fellow at the Frontier Security Institute, where her work examines the intersection of artificial intelligence and terrorism, and a Non-Resident Fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, where she focuses on global jihadist dynamics. Raised in Lebanon and a native speaker of Arabic and French, Dr. Harmouch draws on fieldwork and primary-source research across the Middle East, Asia, North Africa, and Europe, including interviews and direct engagement with members of extremist groups. She regularly briefs and advises U.S. and international security agencies as well as the private sector on terrorism trends and emerging security issues. Her work has appeared in Lawfare, Long War Journal, NatSec Matters, Defense One, War on the Rocks, The Washington Quarterly, NPR, and VOA, among others, and has been cited in congressional testimony. She holds a Ph.D. in Justice, Law, and Criminology from American University and a master's degree in International Relations, Science, and Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology. Follow on X @Dr_SaraHarmouch