Dr. David Alpher joined Saferworld in 2013 as the organization's first permanent representative in America, leading advocacy efforts to shape US foreign policy on areas such as community security, terrorism and violent extremism, aid and conflict interactions, and security sector reform. Dr. Alpher came to the position with 13 years' experience implementing field programs within conflict affected and fragile environments in other organizations. As a district manager and Chief of Party, he has led youth engagement and IDP reintegration programs in Iraq, also managing the civil-military engagement within a complex reconstruction and stabilization operation; facilitated back-channel dialogues in Israel and the Palestinian Territories; led conflict analysis missions in Nepal and Ethiopia; and backstopped a range of peacebuilding and development programs. In addition to his programmatic expertise, he holds an MS and PhD in conflict analysis and resolution, focusing on the effect of democratization on sustainability and success in international development programming. Dr. Alpher is a visiting fellow at the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, and publishes extensively on a range of issues related to peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Dr. Alpher is also a veteran of the United States Army.