Brenda Shaffer is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. She is an international energy and foreign policy specialist focusing on natural gas trade and foreign policy, Caspian energy, Azerbaijan, the Iranian energy sector, energy security policies, European energy security, critical energy infrastructure protection policy, and Eastern Mediterranean energy. Shaffer is also a faculty member at the US Naval Postgraduate School and Advisor for Energy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Shaffer is the author of several  books: Operational Energy (co-authored with Daniel Nussbaum and Alan Howard, De Gruyter, 2024), Iran is more than Persia: Ethnic Politics in Iran (De Gruyter, 2022), Energy Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (MIT Press, 2002), and Partners in Need: The Strategic Relationship of Russia and Iran (Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2001). She has also served as the editor of Beyond the Resource Curse (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012) and Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy (MIT Press, 2006).

Shaffer frequently provides research and expert counsel to international institutions, governments, energy companies, financial institutions, and regional security organizations. She has served as an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli Ministry of Energy on policy related to major natural gas discoveries, has advised several companies involved in Caspian energy production and export, and given testimony to US congressional committees, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the European Parliament. Shaffer frequently appears on major news outlets worldwide to provide insight on developments in global energy markets and trends.