The National Security Roundtable

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Avi Schnurr is the Director of the Israel Missile Defense Association, an organization dedicated to helping lead Israel’s national dialogue on missile defense. He is also the Director of EMP awareness initiatives for the new U.S.-based EMP Awareness Coordination Taskforce (EMPACT), which is working to build an international coalition of NGOs, companies, government organizations and others hosting a set of resources and programming for infrastructure protection against the EMP threat.

Dr. Schnurr, a physicist by profession, worked until the end of 2004 in the U.S. for Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology Sector, where he managed U.S. as well as joint U.S.-Israel defense programs and new initiatives. He also founded and managed the joint U.S. Army-Israel MoD (Ministry of Defense) Nautilus and THEL Laser programs.

Dr. Schnurr has received numerous awards for his missile defense work, and holds patents for his work in laser weapons and laser and optical systems. He is a regular speaker at defense policy institutes, and has reviewed U.S. defense policy for the Department of Defense, Congress, the White House Homeland Security Council, the National Academy of Sciences, NATO working groups and elsewhere.