Isaac Kfir was Deputy Director of the Defence, Strategy and National Security program and Head of the Counter-terrorism policy centre until the end of 2019.

Isaac received a BA in History with honors from the University of Buckingham (1994) an M.A. from the University of Kent (1995) and a Ph.D. (1999) in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the UK. He also has a Post-graduate diploma in Law (2000) and a Bar Vocational Course degree from BPP Law School, London, UK. From 1999 to 2005 he was a member of Inner Temple in London

Isaac was an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Institute for International Strategy, Tokyo International University (TIU), Japan (2016-2017). Prior to that posting, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law and International Relations at Syracuse University (2009-2016) where he was also the Associate Director of the Mapping Global Insecurities Project at the Moynihan Institute for Global Affairs, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University (20014-2016). Between 2014 and 2016 he was the Co-Director of the National Security and Counterterrorism Research Centre, 2014-2016 working on foreign fighters with the UN Counterterrorism Executive Directorate on Islamic radicalization. Isaac served as a Senior Researcher, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, The Interdisciplinary Centre, Herzliya, Israel; and as an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Security Studies, Raphael Recanati International School, The Interdisciplinary Centre (IDC), Herzliya, Israel.

At Syracuse University, he taught graduate courses and undergraduate courses on international security, terrorism and national security, peacekeeping, international law, post-conflict reconstruction, European Union politics and law, international relations of the Middle East.

Isaac is the author and co-author of many empirical, analytical research studies that have appeared in such journals as Defense Studies, Contemporary Security Policy, Comparative Strategy, and Studies in Conflict & Terrorism on such issues as the Pakistan Taliban, the Islamic State, al-Shabaab, NATO and human security. Using his legal training, Isaac has authored legal studies on post-conflict justice, international refugee law, and national security law. These have appeared in such leading journals as the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights and the Texas Journal of Women & the Law.