Areas of Expertise

• Security and defense policy
• NATO
• Transatlantic security and defense relations
• Security and defense policy of Germany and the United States
• Security and defense policy interconnectedness of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theaters

Short Bio

Dr. Aylin Matlé is a senior research fellow in the Center for Security and Defense at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Previously, she worked as the deputy head of the Israel office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. in Jerusalem and as a research associate at the Chair for International Relations and European Politics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

Matlé’s research interests include German and US security and defense policies, NATO, and transatlantic security and defense relations as well as the interconnectedness of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theaters. She has published extensively on these and other topics, including in Handelsblatt, Internationale Politik (Quarterly), War on the Rocks, the European Leadership Network, Sicherheit und Frieden, the US Army War College Press, and Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik.

She is also a regular commentator in German and international media, including BBC, Bloomberg, The Times, New York Times, Washington Post, ARD, Deutsche Welle, Deutschlandfunk, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), and ZDF. Matlé is a member of NATO’s Civil Society Advisory Panel on Women, Peace, and Security.

Matlé studied political science at Zeppelin University (ZU) in Friedrichshafen and “War Studies” at King’s College London. She earned her PhD from Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg with a dissertation on the impact of US engagement on NATO and the defense policies of European allies during Barack Obama’s presidency. During her doctoral studies, she was a visiting scholar at American University in Washington, DC, and a fellow in the AGI/GMF “American-German Situation Room.”

Languages

German (native), English (fluent), French (basic knowledge)

[Last updated: August 2025]