Emily C. Schiffer

Emily Schiffer joined the Department of War Office of the General Counsel (International Affairs) in 2024, following over 30 years as an Army officer. She is the senior counsel for national security matters in the Department of War for the Under Secretary of War for Policy. Ms. Schiffer focuses on European matters, including Ukraine, Russia, and Eurasia. She was commissioned as an Engineer officer and, in 1998, became a Judge Advocate. Ms. Schiffer's past assignments include positions in the Office of the Judge Advocate General to include Chief, Personnel, Plans and Training Office; the Staff Judge Advocate at the First Cavalry Division at Fort Cavazos, TX; the Joint Staff as Deputy Legal Counsel in the Cyber, Special Technical Operations (J39) and geographic combatant commands (J35) portfolios; the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii; and most recently, Chief of Legislation, Investigations, and Nominations in the Army Office of Congressional Liaison. Her operational experience includes deployments to IFOR, SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and multiple deployments to Iraq for OPERATION Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. Ms. Schiffer's education includes a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the United States Military Academy; Masters of Law (LLM) from U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's School; Master of National Resource Strategy, the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, Fort McNair, Washington DC; Master of Laws, the Judge Advocate General’s School, Charlottesville, VA; Juris Doctorate, University of Colorado School of Law, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. She started as an adjunct professor for GW Law in August 2026.

Ms. Schiffer's husband, Tom, also retired from the Army in 2024 and joined the National Defense University team as General Counsel. They have three daughters dispersed across the country.