Ephraim Avigdor Speiser (January 24, 1902 – June 15, 1965) was a Polish-born American Assyriologist and translator of the Torah.

[7] The members of the Mittani-Hurrian tribes still spoke Hittite; Speiser was one of few in the United States who could speak the language.

[8] In 1927, while in northern Iraq, Speiser discovered the Tepe Gawra (or “Great Mound”), one of the earliest known examples of civilization.

In 1936, Speiser also took over the position as field director for the excavation of the Sumerian site of Khafajeh after the University Museum took it over from the Oriental Institute in Chicago.

[12] During World War II, Speiser left academia to become chief of the Office of Strategic Services' Near East Section of the Research and Analysis Branch in Washington, D.C.

He was one of many American students and scholars of Orientalism who entered and served in the intelligence services during World War II.