Samantha (Pitts-Kiefer) Neakrase

Samantha Neakrase is Senior Advisor at the Office of Nonproliferation and Arms Control.

Previously, she was the Director of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative where she led programming on nuclear weapons policy. She joined NTI in June 2012 and led two major projects: the NTI Nuclear Security Index and the Global Dialogue on Nuclear Security Priorities. She helped lead NTI’s analysis related to the Nuclear Security Summit process and helped develop new projects on cybersecurity of nuclear facilities and nuclear command and control. She is an expert on nuclear security governance and international law.

In May 2012, Neakrase completed a master’s degree in public administration at the Harvard Kennedy School where she focused on foreign policy and national security. At the Kennedy School, Neakrase served as a course assistant for Dr. Graham Allison and David Gergen. She received the Donald K. Price Award for academic excellence and community service.

While completing her master’s degree, Neakrase also served as a research assistant for David Sanger on his book “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power,” providing research and writing support for chapters on President Obama’s policies on nuclear security and Iran, Pakistan’s nuclear program, and the international legal and policy dimensions of drone warfare.

Prior to attending the Kennedy School, Neakrase practiced law at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and clerked for the Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Neakrase is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, the Fissile Materials Working Group, and the World Institute for Nuclear Security. In addition to an M.P.A. from the Harvard Kennedy School, she holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College and a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif.