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ARTICLE · 13 JULY 2026

Interview with Melissa Mahle, Strategic Risk Advisor

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As global power dynamics shift and traditional alliances face unprecedented strain, what emerging geopolitical risks threaten to destabilize markets and reshape international business? Former CIA intelligence officer Melissa Mahle examines the transition from multilateral consensus to hard power politics, exploring how businesses must adapt their strategies amid fragmenting central bank policies, weakening transatlantic relationships, and the return of economic coercion to the geopolitical playbook.

United StatesInternational Law
Melissa B. Mahle
Melissa B. Mahle

Melissa Mahle is a senior advisor with Steptoe’s International Trade and Regulatory Compliance Group and leader of the Global Strategic Engagement Team’s analytical team, which produces the Stepwise Risk Outlook. Mahle is a former US intelligence officer with a background in intelligence, foreign policy advising, risk consulting and Middle East issues. She advises clients on political and security risks, crisis management, incident response, after-action reviews and business continuity. She is the author of Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11 (Nation Books, 2003) and, on the lighter side, she has authored children's books and served as a Hollywood film consultant.

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