Yousif Kalian serves as Policy Advisor for POLARIS National Security.

Yousif Kalian has over a decade of experience advancing American interests across the Middle East and Eurasia. He most recently worked in the U.S. government, coordinating interagency efforts for North African development. Previously, Yousif worked at the International Republican Institute, where he managed U.S. government-funded programs focused on civil society, improving governance, and supporting strategic polling and policy analysis to inform U.S. engagement. He led efforts to monitor authoritarian influence in Eurasia, and helped oversee an initiative addressing humanitarian and security challenges in Syria’s al-Hol camp.

While at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Yousif lived in Erbil, Iraq, and led on-the-ground stabilization efforts in the wake of ISIS’ territorial defeat. He played a key coordination role in facilitating reconciliation agreements between minority and tribal communities in northern Iraq—critical steps toward enabling the return of displaced populations and promoting social cohesion. He also managed multi-million-dollar programs focused on conflict resolution, governance, and education reform in coordination with U.S. and Iraqi stakeholders.

Yousif’s writing and analysis on threats to U.S. interests—including Iran’s regional influence and the persecution of Christian minorities—have appeared in The Hill, The American Interest, and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He speaks fluent Arabic and conversational Syriac-Aramaic. Born in Philadelphia, he holds a B.A. in Politics from The Catholic University of America and currently resides in Virginia.