Neil Noronha

Neil Noronha is a second-year law student at the University of Virigina (UVA). He is interested in the interdisciplinary intersection of national security, economics, and law, with a focus on investment restrictions, export controls, and sanctions. At UVA Law, he is Captain of the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Team, Assistant Articles Editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law, and Vice President of Professional Development of the National Security Law Forum.  

Prior to law school, Neil had an extensive career in government, academia, and the private sector. He served in the Obama Administration from 2014 to 2017, both at the Department of Defense and the White House National Security Council Staff. For the former, he worked as a special assistant in two undersecretariats, involved on matters related to counterterrorism, counternarcotics, stability and humanitarian affairs, and intelligence operations. For the latter, he oversaw the presidential disaster declaration process, by which the President declared severe man-made or weather incidents as major disasters or emergencies. In turn, such declaration led to the disbursement of Federal assistance to affected communities.   

After his stint in the U.S. government, Neil was a visiting scholar from 2017 to 2018 at Carnegie India as part of the Henry Luce Scholars Program, where he researched and published on India’s disaster management and financial intelligence capabilities. He then from 2018 to 2019 served as a foreign policy aide to Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) in the U.S. Congress, advising on a host of national security issues. Lastly, for two years (January 2022 to December 2023), Neil was a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in its Aerospace and Defense practice area, advising public sector clients on maintenance and operations related to aviation and maritime assets.  

Neil graduated with is Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and a Master of Arts in Security Studies from Georgetown University, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service and earned his Master of Business Administration from Yale University. He is a reservist in the U.S. Navy and enjoys all things Maryland.