Wayne Zaideman
Dr. Wayne H. Zaideman is currently an adjunct professor, teaching political Islam at Florida State University.
As a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he worked Middle East counterintelligence/counterterrorism cases. He was at FBI headquarters three times: as a supervisory special agent, as a unit chief, and as an assistant section chief. He also taught at the FBI Academy. In addition, he was Assistant Legal Attaché Tel Aviv (covering Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan), and Legal Attaché Amman (covering Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon). The Legal Attaché is the FBI director's personal representative to foreign countries.
Following retirement from the FBI, he worked for MITRE Corporation, supporting the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). He later worked for Lockheed Martin Corporation supporting the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
Dr. Zaideman has a BA (English/communications) and a JD (law) from DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, and an MA (Near Eastern studies) and a PhD (Near Eastern languages and literature) from New York University.
Dr. Zaideman is proficient in Persian (Farsi), Arabic, and Hebrew languages. He is also frequently called upon to participate on discussion panels in Washington, D.C. think tanks concerning Middle Eastern issues.
Dr. Zaideman also served as an adjunct fellow: an academic appointment at the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies, Washington, D.C.