Swisher is the son of Mary Swisher and James Swisher Jr. He grew up in Michigan and later in New Castle, Pennsylvania where he played football for Neshannock High School. After high school Swisher attended the University of Pittsburgh, in 1999 he graduated with a Bachelor's in Administration of Justice. In 2003 he graduated from Georgetown University with a Master's in Islam & Muslim-Christian Relations.
Career
Swisher was a bodyguard for the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. He served as a bodyguard for Secretaries of StateMadeleine Albright and Colin Powell, as well as other leaders, including head of the PLOYasser Arafat. Swisher is currently the head of the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit, based at the network's headquarters in Doha. He has worked for Al Jazeera English, and other parts of the Network, since 2007. In 2012, Swisher produced and conducted the reporting for the Al Jazeera documentary, What Killed Arafat? It won the 2013 CINE Golden Eagle Award for best Investigative Journalism and was nominated for other awards. The nine-month investigation revealed high levels of radioactive Polonium-210 in articles left behind by Yasser Arafat, the first President of the Palestinian National Authority. This led to a French criminal investigation and the exhumation of Arafat's body. The forensic investigation, conducted by experts from France, Switzerland, and Russia, reached differing conclusions. The Swiss team said the elevated levels of Polonium lead to the conclusion that Arafat was poisoned. However, the French and Russian scientists said the Polonium on his clothing was of "natural environmental origin" and that Arafat had died of natural causes. In October 2017, Swisher acknowledged planting an undercover reporter inside pro-Israel organizations in the U.S. and the UK as part of an Al Jazeera documentary called The Lobby. As a result of Al Jazeera's undercover investigation, in early 2018, DemocraticCongressmanJosh 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." Swisher has criticized Al Jazeera's decision not to screen a documentary series based on pro-Palestinian film-maker and undercover journalist James Anthony Kleinfeld's undercover investigation into the pro-Israel advocacy groups in the U.S. and accused the network of capitulating to outside pressure from the Qatari government and pro-Israel advocates.
Publications
Swisher's first book, The Truth About Camp David, was published in 2004. L. Carl Brown wrote in Foreign Affairs, "This may not be the definitive 'truth about Camp David,' but it warrants careful attention from all who would learn from the history of negotiations to secure peace in the Holy Land." In a review in the Negotiation Journal, David Matz wrote, "Swisher's report is undermined by the prominence and vehemence of his opinions" and that "his heavy-handedness is off-putting." In 2011, Swisher's second book, The Palestine Papers: The End of the Road? was released, examining the themes of the more than 1,600 leaked documents on the Israeli–Palestinian negotiations, that Swisher had obtained for Al Jazeera.
