Gal Luft (born May 26, 1966) is an
Israeli-American think-tank director, author and alleged
foreign agent. Luft was a lieutenant colonel in the
Israel Defense Forces, and is the executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and cofounder of the Set America Free Coalition.[1][2]
Gal was arrested in
Cyprus on February 17, 2023, on a warrant issued by
Interpol on U.S. charges of weapons trafficking. After being released on bail, he went missing on March 28; he subsequently fled and went into hiding.[3][4][5][6] On July 10, 2023, the US
Justice Department unsealed the indictment for this arrest, dated November 2022, accusing Luft of eight charges including acting as an unregistered
foreign agent of Chinese entities under the US
Foreign Agents Registration Act and violating trade sanctions against Iran.[7][8] Among the indictment's allegations is that Luft, at the behest of Chinese entities, recruited and paid an unnamed adviser to then-president-elect
Donald Trump to adopt pro-Chinese positions.[9][10][11]
In July 2023, Luft claimed he had made allegations of corruption by US president
Joe Biden's son,
Hunter Biden to the FBI and US Justice Department. These allegations were made in March 2019 involving improper financial arrangements with the Chinese energy company
CEFC. He further claimed the criminal charges against him were politically motivated reprisals for his allegations.[12][13]
^"Colloquium Speaker: Gal Luft".
Johns Hopkins University. 28 January 2005.
Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2023. He holds degrees in international relations, international economics, Middle East studies and strategic studies and a doctorate in strategic studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University