MWI Adjunct Scholar
Dr. Shira Efron is a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), head of the Israel Research Program at the RAND Corporation, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research focus is US policy toward the Middle East, including on Israel’s evolving ties with China and the Israeli-Arab conflict, and the nexus of climate change and national security. Dr. Efron specializes in policy analysis, research, and planning methods that can be applied in a variety of contexts. Her studies on Israeli-Chinese ties and their implications for Israeli and US national security and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were featured in leading international media outlets including Foreign Policy and the Wall Street Journal. Before joining INSS and RAND, Dr. Efron was a Middle East analyst at several think tanks in Washington, DC, including the Center for American Progress and Middle East Institute. She has a PhD and MPhil in policy analysis from RAND’s Graduate School, an MA in international relations/international business from New York University, and a BS in biology (major) and computer science (minor) from Tel Aviv University. She is a member of the board of directors of Deborah Forum, which promotes women in the security establishment, and a fellow with Israel Policy Forum.