Born in Italy and raised between Texas and Europe, Giacalone holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Bologna, a Master’s in Islamic Studies from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and a specialization in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism from the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (IICT).

He is a Senior Analyst at the Washington Outsider Center for Information Warfare, and team leader for the “Latin America Team” at the International Team for the Study of Security.

He is also a contributor to the Europe Desk at the UK-based think tank Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism (ITCT), where he obtained the Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) certification. Additionally, he collaborates with the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues and Managing Emergencies (ITSTIME) at the Catholic University of Milan, and with Centro Studi Machiavelli.

From 2014 to 2016, Giacalone was an Associate Researcher at the Italian Istituto Studi Politica Internazionale (ISPI), contributing to its Observatory on Terrorism.

Giacalone has conducted extensive fieldwork on Islamist extremism across Europe. He served as country coordinator for the GLOBSEC-led European project From Criminals to Terrorists and Back, analyzing the crime-terror nexus among jihadist foreign fighters. He is a frequent media contributor and has authored several books and academic chapters on jihadism in Italy, the Balkans, and Russia. His teaching experience includes training postgraduate students, security managers, and law enforcement personnel in Italy. He has also testified before the Italian Parliament on national security issues.

His analyses and reports have been published by the Global Counter-Terrorism Council, OFCS Report, L’Informale, Jewish News Syndicate, Trends Research and Advisory, and European Eye on Radicalization.

Since 2012, he has monitored and studied the street gang phenomenon in Italy, working in collaboration with media and institutions in both Italy and the United States. He has contributed to analyses on this issue for ITSTIME and the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA).

Giacalone is the author of La Spirale Balcanica (The Balkan Spiral, 2016), which explores jihadist networks between Italy and the Balkans, and The Tablighi Jamaat in Europe (2023), published by Trends Research and Advisory, which investigates potential radicalization triggers within the Indian Islamist movement.

He is a Senior Advisor for the Monitoring Jihadism Italy project and lectures at Rome’s Unimarconi University, where he teaches courses on Islamist Terrorism and Terrorism Screening & Profiling. He is also a certified Behavioral Detection Officer and writes a blog on security and terrorism for The Times of Israel.