PNNL

Jessica Burniske works as a legal and regulatory analyst at PNNL with over 10 years’ experience as a lawyer specializing in international law. At PNNL, her work focuses on nonproliferation and arms control, climate change, gender equality, and privacy and technology. Before joining PNNL, she spent five years working in the federal government, in the capacity of policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State, focusing on human rights issues in the Middle East. Following her work in the federal government, she spent four years at the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, conducting research and writing extensively on the intersection between counterterrorism measures and international humanitarian law and international human rights law. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from Boston University. 

• Civil rights and civil liberties
• International human rights and humanitarian law
• Gender equality
• Legal implications of new and emerging technologies
• Nongovernmental organizations
• United Nations

• JD in law, Boston University, 2012
• BA in Plan II Honors and government, The University of Texas at Austin, 2006

• Pro bono attorney, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

Burniske, Jessica S.; Chauvet-Maldonado, Chanel; Kaboro, Beth; Man, Madalina; and Nalumansi, Susan (2023) “Women in Nuclear Power Programs: Case Studies from Africa,” International Journal of Nuclear Security: Vol. 8, No. 2, Article 16.

Doty, Kathleen A. and Burniske, Jessica S. (2023) “Connecting Nuclear Security to International Frameworks on Gender and Security,” International Journal of Nuclear Security: Vol. 8, No. 2, Article 11.

Lewis, Dustin; Modirzadeh, Naz; and Burniske, Jessica. “The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate and International Humanitarian Law: Preliminary Considerations for States,” Legal Briefing, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (March 2020).

Burniske, Jessica; Modirzadeh, Naz K.; and Lewis, Dustin A. “Armed Non-State Actors and International Human Rights Law: An Analysis of the Practice of the U.N. Security Council and U.N. General Assembly,” Briefing Report, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (June 2017).

Burniske, Jessica and Modirzadeh, Naz K. “Pilot Empirical Study on the Impact of Counterterrorism Measures on Humanitarian Action,” Briefing Report, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (March 2017).

Burniske, Jessica; Lewis, Dustin A.; and Modirzadeh, Naz K. “Suppressing Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Supporting Principled Humanitarian Action: A Provisional Framework for Analyzing State Practice,” Briefing Report, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (October 2015).

Burniske, Jessica; Modirzadeh, Naz K.; and Lewis, Dustin A. “Counter-terrorism laws and regulations: what aid agencies need to know,” Humanitarian Practice Network Paper, No. 79, Overseas Development Institute (November 2014).

Burniske, Jessica. “Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement in Somalia and Mali,” Research and Policy Paper, Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project (March 2013).

Burniske, Jessica. “Congressional Inquiries,” Background Briefing, Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project (March 2013).

Burniske, Jessica. “OFAC Licensing,” Background Briefing, Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project (March 2013).