January 2021: This is a page for an HLS PILAC alum; the information may not be up to date.

Jessica S. Burniske is a Senior Law and Policy Associate at the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (HLS PILAC). She carries out legal research and policy work, focusing on the intersection between international humanitarian law, counterterrorism law, and humanitarian action.

Prior to joining the Program, Ms. Burniske was a policy and legal consultant at the Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement (CHE) Project at the Harvard Law School-Brookings Project on Law and Security. Her previous work experience also includes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of State, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her J.D. from Boston University.

Contact

E-mail: jburniske@law.harvard.edu. (See this website’s “Contact” page [link].)

Webpage last updated: November 2019.

Publications

HLS PILAC Legal Briefings and Reports

“The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate and International Humanitarian Law: Preliminary Considerations for States,” Legal Briefing, March 2020 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Naz K. Modirzadeh).

“Armed Non-State Actors and International Human Rights Law: An Analysis of the Practice of the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. General Assembly,” June 2017 (co-author with Naz K. Modirzadeh and Dustin A. Lewis).

“Pilot Empirical Survey Study on the Impact of Counterterrorism Measures on Humanitarian Action,” Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project at HLS PILAC, March 2017 (co-author with Naz K. Modirzadeh).

“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 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Naz K. Modirzadeh).

Humanitarian Practice Network Paper

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

Research and Policy Papers

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

Background Briefings

Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project, “Congressional Inquiries,” Background Briefing, March 2013.

Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project, “OFAC Licensing,” Background Briefing, March 2013.

Projects