Michel Hess – FSU alumnus (B.S. International Affairs and Political Science ’89) – has served as the Senior Advisor for the Cybercrime Office of the Federal Attorney General since 2020.
This position involves coordinating and leading law enforcement and criminal prosecution at strategic and operational levels nationwide and globally. Hess serves as an advisor to the Attorney General in the development of public-private partnerships, international engagements on improving access to electronic evidence, crime prevention, and managing a justice and cybercrime network of stakeholders.
Before receiving the position in 2020, Hess served as the director of training at the Defense Security Service of the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, director of studies in Security Policy and Crisis Management, and chief of section against organized and economic crime at the Federal Police.
“I want to express my immense gratitude for the experience and education I had the privilege to benefit from back in 1988-1989 from Florida State University,” Hess said. “This experience prepared me for a life-long career track as a global security policy professional who has worked in government, corporate, academia in analysis, management, leadership, training, consulting, coordination, and communication, covering 50 countries in 35 years.”
Originally from Switzerland, Hess chose to attend Florida State for its International Affairs program, which had specialties in comparative economic systems, international finance and trade, conflict and peace studies, and strategic studies.
As an undergraduate at FSU, Hess double majored in International Affairs and Political Science, both housed in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy (COSSPP).
“I enjoyed supporting the activities of the International Student & Scholars Club and numerous intercultural activities by various student organizations across campus, a privileged ecosystem of learning and growing in an amazingly beautiful environment,” Hess said.
He enrolled in the Social Sciences Honors Program and developed his senior thesis through the Center for Yugoslav-American Studies, Research, and Exchanges. His thesis was on socialist market economics and a Cuban economy in transition with an imminent disintegration of the Soviet economic system.
These involvements prepared Hess for his subsequent academic studies at the Universities of Geneva (Switzerland), Tel Aviv (Israel), Virginia, Delaware, Fort McNair (National Defense University), Nanyang University (Singapore), and King’s College London.
“The interaction with a superb faculty has been my most impactful experience at FSU; they were demanding and challenging but always supportive, considerate and respectful,” Hess said. “In all of these 35 years, I always kept the banner and memory of FSU COSSPP.”
Hess recommends that students reach out to the professional community using their research agenda as a platform to profile and market themselves. He offers himself as a certified mentor for any International Affairs student at FSU.
For more information on the International Affairs program at FSU, visit coss.fsu.edu/internationalaffairs. To learn more about the Political Science program, visit coss.fsu.edu/polisci.