Dr. Suzanne Freeman is an Assistant Professor of Intelligence and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University. Suzanne is a scholar of international security and organizational theory with a focus on authoritarian intelligence agencies and Russia. She researches how coercive institutions shape domestic and foreign policy in authoritarian states. Prior to joining Leiden University, she held fellowships at American University’s School of International Service and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA and MA from Columbia University.

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Dr. Suzanne Freeman is an Assistant Professor of Intelligence and Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University. Suzanne is a scholar of international security and organizational theory with a focus on authoritarian intelligence agencies and Russia. She researches how coercive institutions shape domestic and foreign policy in authoritarian states.

Suzanne is currently writing a book that examines the strategies that authoritarian intelligence agencies employ to intervene in their own state’s foreign policy decision-making. The book focuses on Russia and the former Soviet Union and is based on archival research in the United States, Lithuania, Poland, and Moldova. In addition to this, she has active research projects about intelligence disclosures in authoritarian states, management of diaspora communities by authoritarian intelligence agencies, and intelligence failures during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beyond her focus on intelligence organizations, Suzanne also researches defense industrial organization under changing geopolitical circumstances. She has published peer-reviewed research in PS: Political Science & Politics. She has also written for Politico EU, War on the Rocks, and Precis Magazine.

In addition to her research about intelligence and Russia, Suzanne is passionate about wargaming and simulations as a research method for social science. She is currently a lead simulation designer in a research project that examines Coast Guards and escalation at sea. Suzanne has also published peer reviewed research about using wargaming as a teaching tool for international relations theory.

At Leiden, Suzanne teaches courses for the undergraduate Minor in Intelligence Studies and the Intelligence & National Security track of the MSc in Crisis and Security Management.

Prior to joining Leiden, she was a Changemaker Postdoctoral Research Fellow at American University’s School of International Service and Predoctoral Research Fellow at the George Washington University’s Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs. She was also a Research Associate at the US Naval War College’s Russia Maritime Studies Institute.

She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MA in International Security Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a BA in Slavic Studies from Columbia University.

Publications