Dr Benedetta Berti is the Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since October 2025.

The Secretary General leads the Assembly’s Secretariat as senior executive officer and principal strategic advisor to the Assembly’s political leadership, with responsibility for the Assembly’s activities and policy work, as well as for representing the Assembly externally.

Dr Berti previously served as Director of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO (2018-2025). She is 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, Dr Berti has, in the past decade, held research and teaching positions at West Point, The Institute for National Security Studies, and Tel Aviv University, among others.

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 notably appeared, 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.

She holds a BA in Oriental Studies from the University of Bologna, and an MA and PhD in International Relations from The Fletcher School (Tufts University).