Bruce Hoffman

Bruce Hoffman (born 1954) is a political analyst known for his views on terrorism and insurgency. He is the Director of the Center for Security Studies and Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He is a specialist in the study of terrorism and counterterrorism and insurgency and counter-insurgency.

Hoffman began studying these subjects while a graduate student at Oxford University from 1976–1986. In 1981, Hoffman joined the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, USA. He left RAND in 1994 when he was appointed Senior Lecturer (and, subsequently, Reader) in International Relations at the University of St Andrews. In 1994, he co-founded (with Professor Paul Wilkinson) and was the first director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV) at St Andrews where he was also Chairman of the Department of International Relations (1994–1998). Hoffman left St Andrews at the end of 1998 to return RAND as Director of RAND's Washington Office (1998–2006), Vice President for External Affairs at RAND (2001–2004) and Acting Director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy (2004). He also held the RAND Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency (2006–2006). Hoffman served as a commissioner on the 9/11 Review Commission, which examined the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) ability to counter terrorism, radicalization and cyber crime. The Commission's report was released on 25 March 2015.

Hoffman's publications include the books: "Holy Terror": The Implications of Terrorism Motivated by a Religious Imperative (1993); Inside Terrorism (1998; 2nd expanded and revised edition 2006); The Failure of Britain's Military Strategy in Palestine, 1939–1947 (1983); and, Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle For Israel, 1917–1947 (2015). He is the editor-in-chief of the scholarly journal, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism; and, the series editor of Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, published by Columbia University Press. He co-edited with Fernando Reinares The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden's Death (2014).

In 1976, Hoffman earned an BA in History from Connecticut College. He studied International Relations at Oxford University, where he earned a B.Phil in 1978 and a D.Phil in 1986.