Bio
Hina Shamsi (@HinaShamsi) is the director of the ACLU National Security Project, which is dedicated to ensuring that U.S. national security policies and practices comply with the Constitution, civil liberties, and human rights. She has engaged in litigation, research, and policy advocacy on issues including the freedoms of speech and association, racial and religious discrimination, unlawful uses of force and detention, privacy and surveillance, and torture. Her work includes a focus on the intersection of national security and counterterrorism policies with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Hina has testified before Congress and appears regularly in the media. She is the author and co-author of publications on targeted killing, torture, and extraordinary rendition, and has monitored and reported on the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay. She is also a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School, where she teaches a course in international human rights.
Before joining the ACLU in her current position, Hina worked as a senior advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions; as a staff attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project; as the acting director and senior counsel of Human Rights First's Law & Security Program; and, as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. Hina is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Northwestern University School of Law.
Featured work
![MQ-9 Reaper Drone](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-mq-9reaperdrone-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
Mar 15, 2019
Keeping Civilian Drone Deaths Secret Keeps Them Going
![Mortar Shell](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web18-mortarshell-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
Nov 19, 2018
The Fatal Flaws in a Congressional Resolution to End US Support for the Saudi-Led Yemen War
![Search of a bag at the border](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-cbpbagsearch-1160x768-400x266.png)
Oct 8, 2018
The Government Is Blacklisting People Based on Predictions of Future Crimes
![Fence at Guantanamo](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web18_guantanamofence_1160x768-400x266.jpg)
Aug 29, 2018
On National Security, Kavanaugh Has a History of Extreme Deference to the President
![President Trump Saluting Outside Air Force One](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web18-trumpairforceone-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
Jul 13, 2018
The Shadow of Torture Behind Trump’s Britain Visit
![Haspel Hearing](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-haspelhearing2-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
May 9, 2018
What Gina Haspel Got Wrong About the Torture Tapes She Helped Destroy
![Drone Hangar](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-dronehangar-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
Sep 22, 2017
The Trump Administration Is Looking to Make It Easier to Kill More People in More Places
![Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis meets with the United Arab Emirates' Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, UAE.](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/web17-blog-mattis-uae-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
Jun 23, 2017
We're Demanding Answers on U.S. Involvement in Torture at Secret UAE Prison Network
![Former Director of the FBI James Comey](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2019/09/blog17-james_comey-1160x768-400x266.jpg)
May 17, 2017
We’re Seeking the Public Release of the Comey Memos Under the Freedom of Information Act