A human rights and national security lawyer and journalist dedicated to actionable analysis, Irina Tsukerman is the Editor in Chief of The Washington Outsider, host of The Washington Outsider Report on the Coalition Radio Network (Rhode Island), and President of Scarab Rising, Inc, a unique advisory company specializing in media, communications, reputational management, & security strategy.
After graduating from Fordham University (B.A., International/Intercultural Studies and Middle East Studies, 2006) and Fordham University School of Law (J.D., 2009), Irina built a professional practice focused on relentlessly championing underreported international causes, especially through publications, media appearances, interviews, and organizing major international events.
A prolific writer, her work appears regularly in US, European, Middle Eastern, and other international publications, including The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (3rd most popular article for 2019), RealClear Defense, Newsweek, Modern Diplomacy, Legal Insurrection, Fair Observer, Center for International Maritime Security, Arab News, Begin-Sadat Center, National Interest, Kyiv Post, Jerusalem Post, The Cryptosphere, Small Wars Journal, Algemeiner, American Spectator, The Well News, The Media Line, & Le Courrier du Maghreb et de l’Orient (The Maghreb and Orient Courier).
Interviews with Irina have appeared in The Associated Press (AP), Forbes, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), Dark Reading, Washington Examiner, POWER Magazine, Cybernews, NY Post, Fox News, The Korea Times, International Business Times (IBT), Epoch Times, The Media Line, Sky News Arabia, Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Arabiya, Al Ayn, Proactive Investors Limited, Almasry Alyaoum, The Kyiv Independent, UK’s Management Today, UK’s Daily and Sunday Express, Metro World News, EnergyMonitor, Hespress Français, Economy Middle East, LE FRANC-TIREUR, The Investigative Project on Terrorism, Masrawy, Saudi Gazette, Qposts, The Electrical Distributor [tED] Magazine, Communication Intelligence Magazine, Daily Mail, Automotive World, Annahar Newspaper, SIGMA’s IGM (Independent Gasoline Marketing) Magazine, The Millennial Source (TMS), Agence Marocaine de presse (MAP), Authoriy Magazine, Bahrain’s Al Watan, as well as Egypt’s Al-Ahram and Ezzaman.
She has been interviewed and referenced in a spectrum of international media on various topics, and her writings have been translated into Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Indonesia, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Kurdish.
Irina has presented to the United Nations and UN Human Rights Commission, on congressional panels (“We the People Forum” on US-Iran Foreign Policy, 2017), at international conferences (Countering Iranian Terrorism Conference, Brussels, 2017; the Muslim World League’s “2nd Conference on Cultural Rapprochement between the United States of America and the Muslim World,” 2018; Moroccan Millennial Leaders’ “Global Energy School,” Essaouira, 2018), and scholarly conferences (George Mason University’s Character Assassination and Reputation Politics Lab (CARP) “Character Assassination and Reputational Politics” Conferences, 2017 and 2019; National Communications Association Conference “Communications for Survival,” 2019, Autobiography/Biography and Reputational Politics, University of Vienna, 2020; “Character Assassination, Illiberalism, and the Erosion of Civic Rights,” CARP and the University of Amsterdam, 2023). As a Member of the New York City Bar's Foreign & Comparative Law Committee, Irina organized and moderated an event, "The Legal Framework for Understanding Information Warfare in Ukraine," co-sponsored by the Council on International Affairs, Communications & Media, and United Nations Committees. Despite a campaign by Russian trolls and fellow travelers to cancel Irina, the event was a success. The distinguished speakers were:
An invited guest at the 2019 Africa Security Conference in Marrakech, Irina has also appeared as a commentator on BBC Arabic, Fox Business, CNN News-18, i24, al-Arabiya, Al Hurra, Moroccan Channel 2M, VOA Kurdish, VOA America (Russian Service), TVP World, NewsX, ION, AlQAhera News, The John Batchelor Show, Middle East Forum Radio, and other American radio programs. Excerpts of an interview she gave in al-Watan were read on air on Saudi24.
Irina is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Arabian Peninsula Institute (API), focusing on the GCC, Yemen, and Iraq.
In 2023, Irina received a Certificate of Appreciation from Ihor Solovei, Head of Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, "for [her] powerful support for Ukraine in the information space, by persistently combating Russian disinformation"
Contact Irina with media inquiries, about speaking opportunities, and to discuss Scarab Rising's services.
Scarab Rising offers threat assessment as well as help identifying emerging threats. We will work with you to develop individualized security protocols and with our teams and partners to implement the strategy. We will also provide the structure for threat prevention, whether for cyber or physical environments.
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Very honored to be interviewed by The Korea Times as part of a series with senior politicians in South Korea, US officials, and think tank analysts on South Korea’s relations with NATO, its overall defense policy, and the controversy over whether to send heavy weapons to Ukraine thus reversing its long standing policy against providing countries in conflict with arms. This is an extremely important issue, and I am glad that South Korea and its media is having a thoughtful and transparent internal and bilateral conversation on this subject. Also I draw some comparisons to changes in Morocco’s policies on this issue.