David M. Cattler is a nonresident senior fellow in the Transatlantic Security Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. His work focuses on intelligence and security strategy and cooperation, the defense industrial base, and public-private collaboration aimed at strengthening allied resilience.

From 2019 to 2023, Cattler served as assistant secretary general for intelligence and security at NATO, directing the Alliance’s civilian and military intelligence enterprise and advancing reforms to enhance NATO’s strategic awareness and decision making. He previously served as director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, leading the US government’s largest security agency responsible for personnel vetting, industrial security, and insider threat programs.

Earlier in his career, Cattler held senior positions on the National Security Council staff, in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and within the Department of Defense, with responsibilities spanning counterterrorism, national security policy, and strategic analysis.

Cattler is the founder and managing principal of Ironhelm Works, an independent advisory firm focused on security, risk, and strategy. He is also a nonresident distinguished fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn, Estonia.

A 1993 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Cattler also holds a master of policy management degree from Georgetown University. He has received multiple US and allied honors, including Estonia’s Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana and Ukraine’s Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise.