Ross was born and raised in Canada. He was raised as an Anglican and served in the Canadian Armed Forces in the since disbanded Special Service Force at CFB Petawawa. After traveling to and working in Israel, he met and married an Israeli woman and converted to Judaism.

During the 1980’s he served in a combat unit of the Israeli army. His service brought him to the attention of the Mossad, which recruited him as an officer. He served under a form of non-official cover, which involves working under covers other than as an Israeli diplomat and therefore lacks diplomatic immunity, a status which the Mossad refers to as “combatant”. Ross’s Canadian background and language skills gave him excellent access to sources of intelligence and the ability to travel without suspicion of being an Israeli officer. For many years, Ross was the Mossad’s man in sub-Saharan Africa. Although primarily a field operative, Ross also served in an official liaison position working with the American Central Intelligence Agency. Ross left the Mossad under honorable circumstances in late 2001.

Ross’s work with the Mossad was spent almost entirely in counter-terrorism.

In addition to sub-Saharan Africa, he served in the Mossad’s CAESAREA division in Syria, Azerbaijan, North Africa, and Iran. At Mossad headquarters he was involved with the TEVEL division, responsible for liaison relationships with allied governments on counter-terrorism, specifically in prevention and investigation of attacks upon embassies. He later served in the Mossad’s BITZUR division, responsible for prevention of terrorist attacks upon Jewish communities worldwide. Ross was involved in protection of Jews from Zimbabwe threatened by the Robert Mugabe regime.

Ross wrote “The Volunteer” in 2007. The tone of the book is pro-Israeli; Ross sees Israel as an example of civilization’s defense against terrorism. He does not appear to draw distinctions between the aims of Palestinian nationalism and al-Qaeda's stated goal to drive Americans and western influence out of all Muslim nations. His discussions of intelligence operations have been described as realistic and not movie-like.

Book

• The Volunteer: The Incredible True Story of an Israeli Spy on the Trail of International Terrorists, Skyhorse Publishing, September 2007, ISBN 978-1602391321.

Articles

• "Mini-Book review-Ross-The Volunteer: A Canadian's Secret Life in the Mossad" by James McCormick, Chicago Boyz, September 24, 2010.

• "Bureaucracy Kills" by Michael Ross and Ishmael Jones, National Post, January 11, 2010.

• "Israel: Mossad Hit Didn’t Upset Intel Ties" by Eli Lake, Washington Times, February 25, 2010.

• "Israeli Passport Row is just Political Theatre" by Michael Ross, National Post, March 25, 2010.

• "Obama's Iran dilemma" by Michael Ross, National Post, January 2, 2009.

• "No intelligence" by Michael Ross, Maclean's Magazine, August 6, 2008.

• "Good-bye, Zimbabwe" by Michael Ross, Maclean's Magazine, June 4, 2008.

• "The Iran hawks' latest surge" by Gregory Levy, Salon.com, March 7, 2008.

• "A true arch-terrorist" by Michael Ross, National Post, February 15, 2008.

• "Jews are news" by Michael Ross, National Post, December 29, 2008.