Heather L. Messera
Senior National Security Fellow

Heather L. Messera is Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security where she he leads the Center’s engagement with Congress and the Administration.

Previous to joining the Center for Climate and Security, Heather was with the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she managed the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate, and her research focused on challenges and policies surrounding the confluence of energy security, climate change, and national security.

Heather’s interest in climate as an international security issue developed during her time as the Director of the Defence and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels. Before her work took her abroad, Heather was a Senior Research Assistant with the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on over-the-horizon threats, and issues ranging from robotics and artificial intelligence in warfare, to European Security policy and NATO operations in Afghanistan.  Heather also managed the Brookings 21st Century Defense Initiative as well as the military, intelligence and International Security Fellows program. She began her policy career with the House Committee on Armed Services, as both Military Legislative Assistant and Staff Assistant to General Counsel and Readiness Subcommittee, where her portfolio included Iraq Freedom Fund and the Joint IED Defeat Organization, as well as various programs within the Operations and Maintenance budget.

Heather holds a Bachelors degree in Peace, War, and Defense and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has a Masters degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.  She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Command and Staff College, and has completed doctoral coursework in International Relations at Georgetown University.