Program Officer, Global Nuclear Policy Program
Toya Jackson serves as a program officer with NTI’s Global Nuclear Policy Program (GNPP). In this role, she supports NTI’s efforts to reduce global nuclear risks and proliferation, focusing on regional and nuclear security issues in Asia and the Global South, as well as U.S. nuclear policy and arms control.
Previously, Jackson served as a program coordinator and Japan specialist in the Washington, DC, office of the East-West Center (EWC), a non-profit organization providing research and analysis of issues mutually impacting the United States and the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to EWC, Jackson served as a diplomatic assistant in the political department of the Embassy of Japan in the United States, where she was responsible for monitoring security and foreign policy developments in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East from 2018-2022.
Jackson is a recipient of the 2023 Boren Fellowship and studied Mandarin Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan from 2023-2024. She is completing her master’s degree in Public Administration and Public Policy (MPAP) at American University.
She speaks English, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese.
Three of NTI’s staff members have spent significant time in Japan, where their experiences have influenced their engagement in the nuclear field, often in unexpected ways. In this post, they share their deeply personal reflections on what the commemoration of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki means to them.
Toya Jackson joined NTI in 2024 as a Program Officer on the Global Nuclear Policy Program (GNPP) team, and she has had a unique journey—from studying linguistics and living abroad to working in public administration and nuclear policy.
At noon on January 20, 2025, thousands will gather to witness the transfer of presidential power on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. One of the most significant elements of the transfer of power will likely go almost entirely unnoticed—the transfer of the nuclear football.
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