Simone Ledeen

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy

Ms. Ledeen has served in various U.S. Government and business leadership positions, most recently as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy. Her prior US Government work, including on multiple oversees deployments, influenced key counterterrorism activities, intelligence collection and analysis, as well as military information support operations involving cyber and disinformation, irregular warfare, direct action, sensitive special operations and personnel recovery/hostage issues. She is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue where she works on a variety of issues including the nexus of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Ms. Ledeen has an MBA from the Bocconi University School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University.