Areas of Expertise

  • Security and defense policy
  • Civil defense and comprehensive defense
  • Resilience
  • Integrated security
  • Cybersecurity policy and critical infrastructure

Short Bio

Nina Locher has been a policy fellow in DGAP’s Center for Security and Defense since March 2026. Focusing on the areas of resilience and integrated security, her work centers on the interconnection of internal and external security, whole-of-society resilience, and civil and comprehensive defense. 

Prior to joining DGAP, Locher served as head of cybersecurity policy at the German Informatics Society (GI). There, she shaped the organization’s stance on issues of national and international cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and digital resilience. Before that, as chief of staff for a member of the German Bundestag, she worked on the Foreign Affairs, Digital Affairs, and EU Committees, focusing on topics such as digital foreign and security policy, EU-transatlantic relations, North Africa, and East Asia. Prior to this, she held various positions at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, working on foreign, European, and domestic policy issues. 

Locher holds a double master’s degree in public administration and public policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Hertie School. She completed her bachelor’s degree in politics and public administration at the University of Konstanz, which included study at Istanbul Bilgi University. 

Languages

German, English, Turkish, Italian

 

[Last updated: March 2026]

Contributions

Ernstfall AfD

Wer in einem Bundesland regiert, kann auch Einfluss nehmen auf Deutschlands Verteidigungspolitik. Käme die AfD erstmals an die Macht, könnte sie Truppenverlegungen verzögern, die Spionageabwehr zurückfahren und Zugang zu streng geheimen Verteidigungsplänen erhalten – bei dokumentierter Nähe zu Moskau. Eine Analyse der unterschätzten Machtinstrumente einer AfD-Landesregierung.

Author/s
Nina Locher
Ina Georgieva-Stoycheff
IP
Creation date

Schnittstelle Sicherheit

purchasable

Nationaler Sicherheitsrat, Abwehrzentren, Task Forces: Deutschlands Sicherheitsarchitektur wächst. Doch zusammen zuständig heißt noch nicht zusammen handlungsfähig. 

Author/s
Nina Locher
IP Special
Creation date

Nina Locher

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