Omer S. Rafiq

Omer Rafiq is a Fellow with the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative. A proud first-generation immigrant, Omer was born and raised in Saudi Arabia to parents of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent. He is a former Infantry Officer in the U.S. Marines, having served in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. During his military career, Omer served in conventional, special operations, and interagency assignments, overseeing portfolios related to security cooperation, crisis response, and counterterrorism. Omer also served as a Legislative Fellow in the United States Senate, managing a broad portfolio that included defense, foreign policy, and immigration issues.

Following his military service, Omer joined an early-stage technology startup that developed advanced software to support strategic planning and decision-making for senior military leaders. He later served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict.

At the intersection of geopolitics, national security, and technology, Omer’s work explores how U.S. defense technology transfers to Middle Eastern allies shape irregular warfare capabilities, strategic alignment, and U.S. influence in a rapidly evolving global order.

Omer graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master’s in Public Administration, where he was a Center for Public Leadership Fellow, a Pat Tillman Scholar, and a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Public Service. He is a Next Generation National Security Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, International Strategy Forum Fellow at the Special Competitive Studies Project, and a member of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative’s Counterterrorism Group.