Megi Benia

Megi Benia is Founder and Director of the Strategic Security Initiative (SSI), an independent policy research initiative focused on international security and strategic affairs. She is a former Georgian diplomat and security and foreign policy professional specializing in Russia’s influence operations, NATO’s collective defense posture, international cybersecurity, resilience, and transatlantic affairs.

In addition she serves as a Contributing Editor of New Eastern Europe, Project Coordinator at the South-East Europe and Black Sea Region Programme of the Platform for Peace and Humanity, and Associate Fellow at the University of Georgia’s Security, Policy and Nationalism Research Center (UGSPN). She is also a member of the EU CyberNet Expert Pool and a PhD candidate researching the applicability of collective defense to cyberspace within NATO’s strategic doctrine.

As a researcher and public commentator, she analyzes Russia’s evolving hybrid toolkit, U.S.–Russia strategic competition, and European security. Her work contributes to international policy discussions through publications, expert commentary, conference engagement, and teaching. She has authored multiple works on Euro-Atlantic security, cyber diplomacy, resilience, disinformation, NATO adaptation, and arms control.