Glenn Cohen (psychologist)

Education

Cohen earned his undergraduate degree (B.A) in Psychology and Geography from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his graduate degree (M.A) in Clinical Psychology from Bar-Ilan University, specializing in combat-related PTSD.

Military and Intelligence Career

Israeli Air Force

Cohen graduated from the Israeli Air Force flight academy and served for seven years as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

Mossad

Cohen was recruited by the Mossad following his air force service and served for 30 years, retiring as Chief Operational Psychologist. He was responsible for the psychological assessment and training of operatives, and advised commanders from the Mossad, Shin Bet, and YAMAM - National Counter-Terrorism Unit - on resilience and peak performance.

He retired from the Mossad in 2015.

October 7 Hostage Crisis

Emergency Reserve Duty

Following the Hamas October 7 attack in 2023, Cohen was called up to serve in IDF emergency reserve duty in the Hostage Negotiation Unit, serving for over five months. He was the first psychologist to meet returning hostages as they crossed back into Israel.

Debriefing Protocol: "Humanitarian Intelligence"

Cohen authored the protocol for the psychological recovery and debriefing of returning hostages, and led the team that debriefed hostages released from Hamas captivity. He coined the term 'humanitarian intelligence' to describe an intelligence-gathering approach that centers on the trauma victim's wellbeing, contrasting it with existing US protocols that prioritize security debriefing immediately upon a hostage's return. According to Cohen, intelligence gathering is second to restoring safety and agency, which constitute the immediate priority in such cases.

The protocol included carefully scripted initial interactions. For example, greeting returnees with "welcome back" rather than "welcome home", because many hostages' homes had been destroyed in the October 7 attacks. In addition, the concept of "home" no longer represented safety but rather loss for those whose families had been murdered, kidnapped, or displaced. Cohen drew on lessons from the reception of Israeli POWs after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, noting that those POWs had described their treatment upon return as one of the worst aspects of their captivity experience.

According to Cohen, the philosophy that underlies the protocol is reducing the "second trauma" by carefully handling the reception event.

Public Commentary and Research

Cohen spoke publicly about the psychological dimensions of the hostage crisis, cautioning against assumptions that all hostages had endured the same experiences and arguing that misinformation could harm both the public and returning hostages. He also addressed the widespread belief that captivity was worse than death, noting that none of the hostages debriefed had expressed a preference for death over captivity.

Cohen was interviewed on Call Me Back with Dan Senor, a podcast hosted by author and foreign-policy commentator Dan Senor, on the psychology of captivity. He was quoted by Rolling Stone in a feature on the role of music for October 7 hostages, noting that music, whether imagined, sung, or heard, served as a coping tool for those abducted from the Nova music festival.

Cohen has also written about post-traumatic growth (PTG), arguing that national trauma can serve as a catalyst for societal renewal.

The E.L.I.T.E. Method and Speaking Career

Since retiring from the Mossad in 2015, Cohen has worked as a speaker and executive coach, developing and teaching the E.L.I.T.E. method, a leadership and resilience framework based on his career as a special forces psychologist, applied in the corporate world.

Publications and Media Coverage

Selected Media Coverage

• "A Hostage Negotiator's Lesson in Listening", The Wall Street Journal, January 2019.
• "'Resilience is in the Jewish people's DNA': The man helping Israel's freed hostages heal", The Jewish Chronicle, October 2025.
• "'Humanitarian intelligence': Debriefing head lays out protocol for questioning freed hostages", The Jerusalem Post, November 2024.
• "Hostage debrief team leader: Here is how to receive freed captives", The Jerusalem Post, January 2025.
• "From national PTSD to national post-traumatic growth: Israel must turn pain to power", The Jerusalem Post, February 2026.
• "Oct. 7 Hostages Reveal the Music That Helped Them Hold On", Rolling Stone, January 2026.
• "The man who saw 168 people return from hell", Jewish News, 2025.
• Hostage Debrief Team Leader profile, Jewish Standard, 2026

Podcasts and Broadcast

• "What we know about captivity in Gaza — with Glenn Cohen", Call Me Back with Dan Senor, May 2024.
• "The Former Mossad Psychologist in the Room When the Hostages Returned", Meaningful People Podcast, November 2025.
• Dr. Phil — interview on leadership and resilience.
• The Business of Meetings Podcast — interview on resilience under pressure.
• Inside Medicine Podcast — interview on trauma and PTG.
• JM in the AM — radio interview.

Books

• Featured in The Genius of Israel by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.
• Featured in Israel 201 (pp. 184–187), published in 2023.
• Surviving and Thriving After Trauma — forthcoming book documenting findings from the October 7 hostage debriefings, to be published by Simon & Schuster.

Recognition

• Named among the Algemeiner's Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life.
• Listed on the Legacy Worthy Honor Roll as a Servant Leader.