Trent Buatte

Trent Buatte is a Law & Policy Fellow at Northeastern University School of Law and Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Center for Public Leadership. From 2023 to 2025 he served at the White House as Deputy Legal Advisor for the National Security Council, where he covered all legal issues related to the war in Ukraine, Russia, NATO, sanctions and international economic policy, the United Nations, human rights, refugees, cyber, and treaties. He previously served as Attorney-Adviser in the Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser, leading on issues related to international humanitarian law, counterterrorism operations, and interpretation of international agreements. His other government experience includes being Special Advisor for International Humanitarian Policy in the Office of the Secretary Defense, Attorney-Adviser for United Nations Affairs at the Department of State, and Associate Counsel for Refugee & Asylum Law and an asylum officer within the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to government service, he taught human rights law at Universität Halle-Wittenberg in Germany and clerked for the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.