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, counterterrorism, multilateral strategies to curb Iranian aggression—and that of its proxies—in the Middle East, as well as military transformation efforts of key partners and allies. Omer also served as a Legislative Fellow in the United States Senate, managing a broad portfolio that included defense, foreign policy, and immigration issues.

At the intersection of geopolitics and technology, Omer's work explores the role of technology in shaping a new global order and its impact on emerging powers; the ethical dimensions of technology in modern warfare and its role in integrated deterrence; and the future of multilateralism, irregular warfare, and global alliances.

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 an International Strategy Forum Fellow with the Special Competitive Studies Project and a member of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative’s Counterterrorism Study Group.