Areas of Expertise

• Cyber Studies
• Strategy, Policy, and Operations
• International Political Economy
• Privacy and Data Protection

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D., Stanford University
• M.U.R.P., University of Hawai’i at Manoa
• B.S., United States Military Academy at West Point

Dr. Scott Handler is Professor of Cyber Studies at the George C. Marshall Center. Drawing on his private and public sector experiences, his research focuses on issues related to cyber risk governance, public-private partnerships, international digital trade and investment, and privacy and data protection.

Prior to joining the Marshall Center, Dr. Handler was the Head of Strategic Process & Programs, Community Product Operations at Meta, where he led operational excellence efforts for ML/Al and Product Operations, Customer Experience, and Trust & Safety (Integrity) teams that enabled the end-to-end product development lifecycle for ~3B users across the Facebook App, Instagram, Messenger, and Reality Labs products.  Previously, he was Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships and Chief Information Security Officer at WireWheel--a privacy tech company that helps organizations manage their data privacy practices.

As a White House Fellow in the Obama administration, Dr. Handler served as special advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce focused on geoeconomics, global entrepreneurship, digital trade, and infrastructure development. He served in a variety of command and staff positions during 22 years as an Army officer, including as Academy Professor and Director of International Affairs at West Point and executive officer (second-in-command) of a cyber operations battalion that he helped create and grow from 20 to over 450 persons. He commanded a military intelligence company that conducted global operations and led an infantry scout platoon inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at Panmunjom, Korea. Dr. Handler served as senior advisor to the Commander, U.S. Cyber National Mission Force, special assistant to the Director, National Security Agency and senior leadership team that created U.S. Cyber Command, and special assistant to two commanding generals of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq.

Dr. Handler is a French-American Foundation board member and was a Council on Foreign Relations term member and fellow in New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative.