Dr. Benedetta Berti is Head of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary-General at NATO. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy, and Strategy at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

An Eisenhower Global Fellow and a TED Senior Fellow, in the past decade Benedetta has held research and teaching positions at West Point, The Institute for National Security Studies, and Tel Aviv University, among others. Her research focuses on armed groups, internal wars, and the protection of civilians. Dr. Berti is the author of four books, including „Armed Political Organizations. From Conflict to Integration“ (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Her work and research have appeared, among others, in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, the National Interest, the Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times; as well as in Civil Wars, Democratization, Government & Opposition, Mediterranean Politics, the Middle East Journal, Parameters, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence.