Rob de Wijk is the founder of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and Professor of International Relations and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. He studied Contemporary History and International Relations at Groningen University, and wrote his PhD dissertation on NATO’s ‘Flexibility in Response’ strategy at the Political Science Department of Leiden University. Prof. De Wijk started his career in 1977 as a freelance journalist and later became head of the Defense Concepts Department of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, head of the Security Studies at the Clingendael Institute, and Professor of International Relations at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy. 

Paul Sinning is the Executive Director of HCSS. After graduating from the Dutch police academy in 1985, he started his career in the police force in Amsterdam. As a police officer he was responsible for several criminal investigation units. He later studied management and organization (University of Tilburg, 1995) and became a management consultant (1997) and managing partner (2002) at Twynstra Gudde, a Dutch management and consultancy firm. As managing partner he was responsible for building and developing the Security Group, specialized in organizational, business and change management within the field of security. He focused mainly on strategy, organizational development and complex collaboration issues between organizations responsible for security. He later studied public management at the University of Tilburg (2005) and has written several books about security. He has been closely involved in The Hague Security Delta from the start.

Michel Rademaker is the Deputy Director of HCSS. He has a degree in Transport and Logistics, which he obtained at the University of Tilburg. He has fifteen years of hands-on experience as an officer in The Royal Netherlands Army, where he held various military operational and staff posts and also served a term in former Yugoslavia. After leaving the armed forces, Mr. Rademaker went on to work at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) as a project and program manager and senior policy advisor for ten years. As NATO RTO project leader, he and his team developed new serious gaming assessment methods for defense. He has conducted several assessments of security technologies, including disruptive forms, and worked on numerous strategic security topics. He has written several book chapters, and numerous research reports and articles. He served as secretary of the pilot joint venture TNO Clingendael Centre for Strategic Studies for three years and is one of the co-founders of its successor, HCSS.

At HCSS he is responsible for business development. He is particularly interested in setting up multistakeholder projects on new and upcoming security and politico-economic themes. For example, he and his team supported the development of the Dutch national security strategy and crisis management exercises.

Mr. Rademaker was also an initiator of The Hague Security Delta, the biggest security cluster in Europe, and continues to lead projects for this cluster. His fields of expertise include security strategy, policy, concepts and doctrines, technology surveys and assessments, and serious gaming techniques. He also initiated the RMS Platform, where his fields of expertise include the geopolitical and economic security implications of raw materials and energy supply, and the development of policies. He frequently acts as moderator in workshops, as a trainer, as guest lecturer at various universities and speaker at conferences, and as a commentator in news media. 

Frank Bekkers is Director of the Security Program. He is also theme leader of the Strategy and Change Program. He studied Applied Mathematics at the University of Amsterdam and spent most of his career at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), specializing in the area of Defence, Safety & Security. At TNO, he held a range of positions, including program manager, senior research scientist, group manager and account director. From 1996-1997, he worked as program manager for Call Media and Intelligent Networks for the telecom company KPN. His current position at HCSS combines shaping HCSS’s portfolio concerning defense and security-related projects with hands-on participation in a number of key projects. Over the past decade, Bekkers has served as a trusted advisor to the Ministry of Defense with respect to both the methodology and content of its long-term planning.
 

Dr. Tim Sweijs is the Director of Research at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. He is the initiator, creator and author of numerous studies, methodologies, and tools for research projects in horizon scanning, conflict analysis, international and national security risk assessment, and strategy and capability development. His main research interest concerns the changing character of modern day conflict. He has led multicenter research projects for both private and public sector organisations.

Tim spearheads the HCSS StratMon program which offers strategic assessments of medium to long term risks in the global security environment to the Strategic Monitor of the Dutch Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. He is the architect of the HCSS Political Violence Monitor, a web-based interactive mapping platform of global state vulnerability to intrastate conflict. Tim has lectured at universities and military academies around the world. Prior to HCSS, he was a researcher at TNO Defense and Security in The Hague and at the research staff of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels. He studied in London, Amsterdam and Hong Kong and holds degrees in War Studies (PhD, MA), International Relations (Msc.), and Philosophy (BA). Tim is married and has three children.

Stephan De Spiegeleire is senior scientist at HCSS. He has Master’s degrees from the Graduate Institute in Geneva and Columbia University in New York, as well as a C.Phil. degree in Political Science from UCLA. He worked for the RAND Corporation for nearly ten years, interrupted by stints at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik and the WEU’s Institute for Security Studies. Mr. De Spiegeleire started out as a Soviet specialist, but has since branched out into several fields of international security and defense policy. His current work at HCSS focuses on strategic defense management, security resilience, network-centrism, capabilities-based planning, and the transformation of defense planning. He is particularly active in HCSS’s security foresight efforts to inform national and European security policy planning in the broader sense. He also teaches at Webster University in Leiden. Stephan keeps a personal blog, where he records his reflections on his fields of expertise. Please visit: gettingdefenseright.blogspot.com/

Willem Oosterveld is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. He holds degrees in political science, law and history, having studied in Amsterdam, Leiden, Paris, New York and Harvard. A former Fulbright scholar, he earned a PhD in the history of international law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. 

Willem has experience in academia, government, journalism and business. Before joining HCSS, he worked for an economic intelligence company in Johannesburg, Jakarta and Casablanca. In Geneva, he worked for the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and with the Dutch Mission to the UN. In New York, he was an intern with the Security Council Secretariat at UN headquarters. 

At HCSS, Mr. Oosterveld focuses on security, justice, and development issues, as well as the geopolitics of the greater Middle East. He has contributed to various projects commissioned by the Dutch Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, as well as international organizations and multinational companies.
 

Karlijn Jans is a strategic analyst at HCSS. She holds a Master’s degree in European Studies specializing in German politics from King’s College London and a Master’s degree in European and International Law from Maastricht University. Her geographical expertise includes Europe and the transatlantic sphere. Ms. Jans further specialized in defense and security policies while studying as a visiting student at the Netherlands Defense Academy. Prior to her position at HCSS she worked as a policy advisor at the TNO’s EU office in Brussels. Karlijn frequently publishes on transatlantic security issues and European defense policies in the media, including in The Huffington Post, Diplomatic Courier, World Politics Review, Euractiv, and Charged Affairs. Besides her work at HCSS she is a member of the youth-think tank The West Wing of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she focuses on European defence cooperation specifically.

Arlinda Rrustemi is a researcher and lecturer on peace and conflict studies. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Leiden University in the Netherlands. In 2016, Arlinda defended her doctoral thesis, entitled "State-Building through Life Stories: Incorporating Local Perspectives”, which was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). She holds a B.A. (cum laude) from the University College Roosevelt and an LL.M. degree in Public International Law from Utrecht University. She teaches on humanitarian intervention, peacebuilding, power instruments and multilateral organizations, and is involved in several research projects uncovering peace infrastructures and countering radicalization. She has also received several fellowships and grants, such as Erasmus +, LEICEU, Archimedes and LUF. She was also a visiting scholar at several universities, including the Central European University, University of Leuven, Free University in Brussels, Cegesoma, University of Tallinn and New York University.

Dr. Rrustemi has also published several articles for various journals and media outlets. She has previously worked as a lecturer and researcher at Leiden University and was a research assistant to Prof. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. She also interned at several NGOs (such as YIHR, KAS and PYC), international courts (such as the ICTY and the ICC) and at various Ministries in the Republic of Kosovo. Her research interests are in state-, nation- and peace-building, transitional justice, humanitarian intervention, life stories methodologies and terrorism.

Colonel Robert de Rave started his military career in 1979 as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. On graduation in 1982, he began his military flying training at the Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, U.S.A., subsequently receiving his Military Jet Pilot wings. In the following years he was posted to Twente Air Base, the Führungs Akademie in Hamburg and Volkel Airbase. 

With effect from October 1997, Colonel De Rave was appointed the Commanding Officer of 311 Squadron at Volkel Air Base, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During this posting he was deployed to Villafranca Air Base for a second time from June 1998 to October 1998, as the Detachment Commander of the F-16 unit of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, supporting the NATO operations over the Balkans. During his assignment with 311 Squadron, Mr. De Rave also completed his conversion to the MLU configuration of the F-16. On completion of his tour with 311 Squadron, Rob was posted to the Netherlands Defence Academy from September 2000 until March 2002, teaching Air Campaign Planning as a member of the Air Force Department. For the last three months of his posting at the Netherlands Defence Academy, Colonel De Rave was assigned to Central Command at Mac Dill AFB as liaison officer for the Netherlands Armed Forces. After this short tour he took up a posting as Commanding Officer of Volkel Air Base with effect from March 2002. During his period as Wing Commander, the Fighter Wing of AB Volkel deployed to Ganci AB (Kyrgyzstan) twice and Kabul International Airfield (Afghanistan) to support Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Stabilization Force in Afghanistan.

In April 2005, Rob moved from Volkel Airbase to the Defense Staff as branch chief of Air Force requirements in the Directorate of Operational Policy, Requirements and Plans. Following an assignment as Air and Assistant Defence Attaché at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in the U.S. from July 2008 until June 2012, Mr. De Rave worked as the Senior Military Adviser for the Netherlands to the UN in New York.

Following this assignment, Rob was seconded to the HCSS as a Strategic Analyst as of September 2015. His focus is on international and national security issues and defense planning.
 

Michel Roelen is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy and has an Executive Master in Security and Defence from the Advance Military Command and Staff Course, both in The Netherlands. Currently he is working towards a Master’s degree in Military History at the University of Amsterdam. As an artillery officer he has held operational leadership positions as Platoon, Company and Battalion Commander, operational positions as battalion and brigade operations officer, and staff officer positions at the Army Staff and the Ministry of Defence. He participated in the European Union Battle Group and the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. He has served in the UN mission in Bosnia and the NATO missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan. In his recent position at the Army Staff he was responsible for developing the new readiness and training model for the Royal Netherlands Army. At The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies he focuses on security

Commander Eric Wilms started his military career in 1988 as a Weapon Engineering Midshipman at the Royal Netherlands Naval Institute in Den Helder. After graduation in 1992, he studied at Delft Technical University.

During the first years of his operational career, he sailed on board of various frigates as a (Deputy) Weapon Engineering Officer. Commander Wilms then became Project Manager for various (International) Naval Procurement Programs (Sonar, Datalinks, Command and Control Systems and Guided Weapons) at the Naval Materiel Directorate (later merging into the Joint Defense Materiel Organization).

In 2006 Wilms successfully finished his Public Administration Program, with a special focus on the EU, at Rotterdam Erasmus University, earning a Master of Science degree. From 2006 on, he was appointed desk officer EU at the International Military Cooperation Department of the Defense Staff. During this position he was an advisor on the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). This position was interrupted by a 6 months assignment as ISAF Staff Officer Current Operations (Aviation) In Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Wilms attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course in 2010-2011, followed by positions at the Naval Staff (Management Control) and Defense Materiel Organization (Information Analyst). In 2014, he returned to the Advanced Command and Staff Course to become mentor and senior tutor. From April - October 2016 he assumed duties as Assistant Chief of Staff in the London based Operational Headquarters of EU Naval Force ATALANTA.  His primary duties were Regional (East Africa) Maritime Capacity Building, Training, Lessons Learned and Transformation.

Following this assignment, Commander Wilms was seconded to HCSS as a Strategic Analyst as of November 2016. His focus is on international and national security issues.

Louk Faesen is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. He holds a Master’s degree in Law and Politics of International Security (LLM) from the VU University of Amsterdam.

Louk worked previously as a Policy Officer at the Task Force International Cyber Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, where he assisted in the substantive preparations of the Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015 (GCCS) and the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) in The Hague and subsequent projects related to international peace and security, such as the application of international law to cyberspace, confidence building mechanisms (CBMs), and norms of responsible state behavior.

During his studies, he conducted research on the Chinese claims in the South China Sea, and worked as a Legal Assistant and Commercial Operator at a Dutch maritime security company that provides security solutions in the High Risk Area of the Indian Ocean.
At HCSS, Louk mainly focuses on international cybersecurity, especially legal and political norms of responsible state behavior, while maintaining an interest in maritime security.

Reinier Bergema is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. He holds a dual Master’s degree in Political Science (International Relations) and Public Administration (Crisis and Security Management), both from Leiden University. His research interests include, inter alia, radicalization, (jihadist) foreign fighters, and terrorism.

More specifically, Reinier has conducted research on Dutch jihadist foreign fighters, travelling to Syria and Iraq since the violent escalation of the conflict in 2011, combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Part of this research involved the setup of a (quantitative) database, consisting of over 220 Dutch jihadists who remain(ed) in Syria and Iraq, as well as the development of an interactive monitor, the Jihadist Foreign Fighter Monitor (JihFFMON).

Despite this specific interest, Reinier has been involved in a wide range of research projects on various contemporary issues in national and international security for a variety of clients, including, but not limited to, the (Netherlands) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Ministry of Defense, the National Police, EUROPOL, and NATO.

Furthermore, Reinier serves as the Internship Coordinator, being responsible for the HCSS Internship Program. In addition to his work at HCSS, he is an assistant editor at the editorial team of the Perspectives on Terrorism journal and a member of the General Board of the JASON Institute. Prior to HCSS, Reinier was a Research Assistant at the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism of Leiden University, The Hague.

Jan Braun is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. His research focuses on international energy markets, climate policies as well as the strategic consequences, risks and opportunities for state and non-state actors in the global energy transition.

Jan has studied in Maastricht, Durham and Edinburgh and holds degrees in International Relations (MA) and Political Science & Economics (PhD-magna cum laude). He completed his PhD at Osnabrück University on legislative decision-making in EU climate and energy policy in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie research network on institutional cooperation in the European Union.

Before joining HCSS, Mr. Braun held various positions in climate and energy policy for the Dutch and German Ministries of Environment, the Centre for European Policy Studies, Handelsblatt, and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Germany. He has also completed internships in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Energy Policies Unit of the Council of the European Union.