Leonid Lantsman

Dr. Leonid Lantsman is a Strategic Trends Analyst for the United Nations Interregional Criminal Justice Research Institute, an advisor for emerging criminal justice technology companies, Fellow for International Criminal Justice Reform at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and an Adjunct Professor at John Jay College,  He received a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the CUNY Graduate Center/John Jay College in 2017, with a focus on transnational organized crime and port security.   From 2013 to 2025, Dr. Lantsman worked for the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), departing as the Director of Research with the INL Office of Knowledge Management (KM).  His experience with the INL Bureau spanned advising U.S. embassies around the world on international criminal justice reform efforts, criminal justice reform program design and management, and developing long-running research and development efforts, including the development, oversight, and management of over 50 research projects with over 20 different U.S. colleges and universities.  He managed over $80 million during his time with INL as the budget director for the KM office as well as a contract and grants officer representative, including designing and managing novel, award-winning projects with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Library of Congress, and numerous non-governmental organizations including the American Bar Association, Innovations for Poverty Action and others.  In 2023, he received the U.S. State Department Data for Diplomacy Award for his pioneering work in identifying data-collection challenges inherent to security sector assistance foreign assistance programming.

 

As the Fellow for International Criminal Justice Reform with the Office for International Partnerships, Dr. Lantsman is focused on exploring novel approaches to civilian security sector foreign assistance, international criminal justice reform, the intersection of geopolitics and civilian security sector reform, and trends in international crime and justice.