Clayton Swisher

[2] Swisher served in the US Marine Corps reserves and later as a Special Agent with the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, investigating passport fraud and internal corruption.

[3][4] Swisher also performed close protection officer duties as a bodyguard for Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell, as well as foreign dignitaries, Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power: 'The Explosive New Book' |last2=Scheck |first2=Justin |date=2020-09-01 |publisher=John Murray Press |isbn=978-1-5293-4790-6}}[5] Between 2005 and 2007, Swisher transitioned to the think tank and research industry and worked as the Director of Programs with the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., where he hosted televised debates concerning US foreign policy toward the Arab world.

In 2011, Swisher led the team which produced the "Palestine Papers", described by The Guardian newspaper as "the biggest documentary leak in the history of the Middle East conflict.

"[11] The late esteemed correspondent Robert Fisk said the Palestine Papers "blew open the secret and scandalous American-led negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority between 2000 and 2010.

"[12] The Palestine Papers led to the temporary resignation of Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief PLO Negotiator, who accused Swisher in a live Al Jazeera interview of orchestrating the leak as part of a CIA plot.

[14][15][16] The nine-month investigation revealed high levels of radioactive Polonium-210 in the clothes and personal effects of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which he had worn and kept close do him in the final days before his death.

[18] In October 2017, Swisher was criticized for planting an undercover reporter, James Anthony Kleinfeld, inside pro-Israel organizations in the U.S. and the UK as part of an Al Jazeera documentary series called The Lobby.

[12] As a result of Al Jazeera's undercover investigation, in early 2018, Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, of New Jersey and Republican Congressman, Lee Zeldin, of New York, urged President Donald Trump's administration "to open an investigation into Al Jazeera's activities in the U.S. and force the network to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA."