Dr. Hila Levy

Before joining the Service, Levy concurrently served as Assistant Director for ocean, polar, and natural security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as Director for science, technology, and workforce strategy on the National Security Council where she coordinated interagency policy recommendations for the President. In her roles at the White House, she contributed to national strategy and foreign policy development, including the 2022 National Security Strategy and multiple National Security Memoranda on ocean, polar, environmental, and workforce matters. She represented the United States at bilateral and multinational security dialogues and negotiations. 

As the Assistant Director for International Affairs, Levy leads our domestic and international efforts to protect, restore, and enhance wildlife and their habitats with a focus on international species. 

Her distinguished career includes parallel military and civilian careers, and she has worked in national security, international relations, science, and environmental management on every continent. She served as an Air Force intelligence and foreign area officer overseas in the Pacific and in Europe, most recently in Special Operations Command, before serving on the Joint Staff as the Arctic and Maritime Policy Advisor. 

Levy is a published scientific researcher, polar and marine ecologist, virologist, and geneticist, specialized in Antarctica; educator; translator in six languages; and climate security advocate. She received a Bachelor of Science in biology with minors in Arabic, French, and Spanish as the top graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. 
She holds a master's in philosophy in military strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies and another in environmental planning and management from Johns Hopkins University. She also holds a Master of Studies in historical research, a Master of Science in biology with distinction, and a Doctor of Philosophy in zoology from the University of Oxford, where she was the first Rhodes Scholar from Puerto Rico. 

In her free time, she enjoys travel, cooking, running, and sharing adventures in nature with her three children.