Samuel Denney

Senior Research Analyst, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Sam Denney is a Senior Research Analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s American Statecraft Program. At Carnegie, he manages a project focused on improving U.S. foreign policy strategy towards key partners and allies in an era of heightened geopolitical competition. From 2021 to 2022, he was a German Chancellor Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and conducted a yearlong research project examining threats to democracy stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and their intersection with Russian influence operations in Germany. He specializes in U.S. foreign policy, transatlantic relations, German domestic politics and foreign policy, and threats to democracy in Europe. Sam previously worked in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution as a senior research assistant and later as a senior project coordinator following his return from the Chancellor Fellowship. He was the 2019 Europe Fellow for Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. His internships include time at the Albright Stonebridge Group, State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bertelsmann Foundation, and the German Bundestag’s Committee on Affairs of the European Union. His publications have appeared in Lawfare, Internationale Politik, RealClearWorld, at the Brookings Institution, at the Center for European Policy Analysis, and at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, among other outlets. Sam earned an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a BA in German and European Studies from Vanderbilt University. He speaks English, German, and some French.