Scott Handler is a professor of cyber studies and emerging technology at the George C. Marshall Center, focusing on issues related to artificial intelligence and cyber risks to national security, international digital trade and investment, and privacy and data protection.
Before joining the Marshall Center, Handler was the head of strategic process and programs at Meta, where he led operational excellence efforts for machine learning and artificial intelligence product and data operations, customer experience, and trust and safety teams that enabled the end-to-end product development lifecycle for 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, Handler served as a special adviser to the U.S. secretary of commerce, focusing 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 of a cyber operations battalion that he helped create and grow from 20 to more than 450 people. Handler served as senior adviser to the commander of the U.S. Cyber National Mission Force, special assistant to the director of the 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.
Handler earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University, a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Hawaii at Manoa as an East-West Fellow, and a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. 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.
