Christopher Hamilton

Christopher Hamilton is a senior fellow in counterterrorism studies at The Washington Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, he led a distinguished FBI career spanning more than two decades. Beginning in 2003, he served in a supervisory role within the bureau's Counterterrorism Division, overseeing all FBI intelligence operations and criminal prosecutions related to terrorist organizations that oppose the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This included formulating the bureau's overarching strategic plans for targeting these groups. He also proposed and implemented the FBI's first overseas Arabic-language instruction programs to facilitate intelligence analysis, interrogation, and intelligence operations.

Previously, Mr. Hamilton served as a supervisory special agent in the Counterterrorism Division, which involved monitoring relevant FBI investigations, authoring annual strategic plans to counter rejectionist groups, providing guidance to field investigators on high-priority cases, overseeing counterespionage operations, and numerous other duties. In addition, he served as assistant inspector-in-place in the bureau's Office of Inspections and as a special agent assigned to espionage, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism investigations. He received numerous awards for his service, including a Director of Central Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation in 1993.

Mr. Hamilton also has extensive experience as a military and commercial pilot, flying F-4 Phantoms for the U.S. Air Force from 1971 to 1979 and Boeing 727s for Pan Am and Continental Airlines. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Iowa and a master's degree in national security studies from Georgetown.