Sam Denney is a German Chancellor Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. He specializes in U.S. foreign policy, transatlantic relations, German domestic and foreign policy, and threats to democracy in Europe. He is the co-lead of the Europe Working Group for Foreign Policy for America’s NextGen Foreign Policy Initiative.



Sam previously worked in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution as a senior research assistant. 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 writing and analysis 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 others.



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.