Areas of Expertise

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

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D., Stanford University
• Master of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Bachelor of Science, U.S. Military Academy, West Point

Scott Handler, Ph.D., is a professor of cyber studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. 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, Handler was the head of strategic process and programs, community product operations at Meta, where he led operational excellence efforts across machine learning/artificial intelligence, product operations, customer experience, and trust and safety teams that enabled the end-to-end product development lifecycle for 3 billion users across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Reality Labs products. Previously, he was vice president of strategy and partnerships and chief information security officer at Wire Wheel, a privacy tech company that helps organizations manage their data privacy practices.

As a White House fellow, 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 a U.S. Army officer, including as academy professor and director of international affairs at West Point and executive officer of a cyber operations battalion that he helped create and grow from 20 to more than 450 personnel. He commanded a military intelligence company that conducted global operations and led an infantry scout platoon inside the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom, Korea. He served as senior advisor to the commander, U.S. Cyber National Mission Force, special assistant to the director of the National Security Agency and to the senior leadership team that established U.S. Cyber Command, and special assistant to two commanding generals of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq.

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.