Nina Shea is a Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute, where she directs the Center for Religious Freedom, an entity she founded 35 years ago. She was appointed by the US House of Representatives to serve as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government agency, for 13 years.

A lawyer by training and based in Washington, DC, she produces analysis and undertakes strategic advocacy against religious persecution in US foreign policy. She was appointed as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations’ main human rights body by both Republican and Democratic administrations.

She has authored or co-authored three books on religious persecution and genocide, including “Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide,” by Oxford University Press. She authored or edited three reports on the indoctrination in jihad and hate ideology in Saudi government textbooks in the decade after the 9/11 attacks. She writes frequently on international religious freedom concerns in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Foreign Affairs, First Things, and many other outlets. She regularly testifies before Congress and organizes policy briefings for government officials, religious freedom experts and the interested public.