Benjamin Shultz

I serve as Lead Researcher at The American Sunlight Project, a bipartisan organization that analyzes and counters online harms that undermine democracy. I am also affiliated with the Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society as a Junior Fellow and the Council of Europe Conference on Drug Control Networks as an Artificial Intelligence Expert. Additionally, I teach courses on open-source investigative techniques and media literacy.

I am a subject matter expert on foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). My research is focused on the efforts of the Kremlin to undermine democracy through disinformation campaigns, as well as the digitalization of organized crime, cartel operations, and cartel recruitment.

My experience includes two years as a Lead Analyst at Deloitte in Washington, D.C., where I analyzed Russian influence operations. I also served as a 2023 NATO Youth Summit Delegate. I hold an M.A. in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University (New York) and a B.A. in Political Science from Sonoma State University (California).

As a graduate student, I served as a Trainee at the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France and worked with DebunkEU, a media literacy organization based in Vilnius, Lithuania. In my free time, I enjoy mapmaking, playing piano and skiing. I am fluent in German, can read French and Spanish, and am learning Russian.