Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Jena Baker McNeill is a homeland security policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation. She handles homeland security and science and technology issues.

As an expert on homeland security and science and technology issues, she has provided commentary for Fox News, ABC, CNBC, C-SPAN, CNN Radio, Pajamas TV, Voice of America, Federal News Radio, and ABC News Radio among others and has testified before Congress on such topics as E-Verify. Her commentary has appeared in such publications as The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Government Executive, CNS News, Congressional Quarterly and Federal Computer Week.

Before joining Heritage in 2008, McNeill worked as a Research Assistant for Hutchinson Group LLC, a homeland security consulting firm founded by Asa Hutchinson, former Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security at the Department of Homeland Security. She previously worked as an Environmental Management Consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton and as a Staff Assistant for Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. She has worked on several high-profile gubernatorial and congressional campaigns and was a legislative intern for Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).

McNeill earned a degree from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock School of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board and Federalist Society. During law school, she clerked for the Senate Committee on the Judiciary-Antitrust Subcommittee and several Arkansas criminal and business litigation firms. She received a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Maryland.