IESI is a US-based non-profit institute working on the economic foundations of Israel’s security — supply chains, trade access, capital formation and energy — and on the allied cooperation that sustains them.
Economic security is the part of national security that is decided in ordinary times — in procurement decisions, port contracts, investment screening rules and export licences — and paid for in extraordinary ones.
Israel is a small, open, highly specialised economy. That specialisation is the source of its strength and, in specific and identifiable places, the source of its exposure. Concentration in a handful of export categories and destination markets, dependence on maritime routes for the overwhelming share of goods trade, and reliance on foreign capital for the growth of strategic industries are structural facts, not forecasts.
IESI works on those facts. We publish research that can be checked, convene the people who hold the decisions, and turn both into practical initiatives with institutions in the United States, Israel and allied nations.
Working papers, data briefs and country studies on dependency, concentration and resilience. Sourced, dated, numbered and written to be cited.
Private roundtables and working groups under the Chatham House rule, bringing together officials, investors, operators and researchers who rarely sit at the same table.
Programmes that move an identified gap: supplier qualification, capital introductions, standards alignment and joint-capacity work with allied partners.
Every figure IESI publishes carries its source and its date. Where a number is contested, we say so and show the range.
Six areas where dependency can be measured, where a decision-maker exists, and where a practical contribution is possible. Each is a standing programme with its own research agenda and convening series.
Single-source inputs, critical components, defence-industrial depth and the qualification of alternative suppliers.
Export concentration by category and destination, tariff and non-tariff exposure, and the durability of preferential access.
Foreign capital dependence in growth-stage technology, investment screening, and the cost of capital under geopolitical risk.
Import exposure, generation and grid resilience, offshore assets, water and desalination, and the physical security of both.
Port concentration, shipping-lane risk, insurance and freight cost transmission, and land-bridge alternatives.
US–Israel industrial and research cooperation, Abraham Accords economic architecture, and coordination with European and Indo-Pacific partners.
Working papers are numbered and dated so they can be filed and cited. Data appendices are published alongside each paper.
A category-and-destination map of Israeli exports, with concentration measures benchmarked against comparable small open economies.
Volume by port, route dependency and the cost transmission of insurance and freight shocks into domestic prices.
Sources of growth-stage capital, the share held by foreign investors, and the screening frameworks that govern it.
IESI convenes private roundtables under the Chatham House rule. Participation is by invitation and capped so that the conversation stays a conversation. Officials, investors, operators and researchers attend in a personal capacity.
Where can we make a practical, meaningful contribution to Israel’s economic security?
The question that governs every programme
Each convening produces a short, non-attributed summary of the questions raised and the gaps identified. Those summaries set the research agenda for the following quarter.
IESI is a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit. Funding comes from individuals, family offices and foundations who want rigorous, non-partisan analysis of a question that is usually discussed without it.