Simon Handler is the assistant director of the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. In this role, he manages a wide range of projects at the nexus of geopolitics and international security with cyberspace. He leads the Initiative’s work on mission resilience, defense aerospace, and cloud security and policy. His own research focuses on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and the Middle East.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Handler served as a special assistant in the United States Senate, where he worked on foreign policy issues. During his time on the Hill, he was a congressional fellow with the Wilson Center’s Congressional Cybersecurity Lab and Congressional Artificial Intelligence Lab, and a part of the East-West Center’s Congressional Staff Program on Asia.

Originally from Stamford, Connecticut, Handler holds a BA in both International Relations & Global Studies (International Security concentration) and Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the president of the Texas Exes of Washington, DC, the alumni association of the University of Texas, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the International Studies Association. He speaks Arabic and some Hebrew. He is also a Certified Bourbon Steward.