Jason Hug is a joint Master in Public Policy (MPP) candidate at the Jackson School of Global Affairs and a Juris Doctor (JD) candidate at Yale Law School. He studies the law of armed conflict, transnational security threats, and U.S.-China relations. His interests also include geopolitics, democratic backsliding in Europe, and civil-military relations. Before coming to Yale, Jason served as a United States Army Intelligence Officer for five years. He was an Honor Graduate of the United States Military Academy, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in life science, interned in the U.S. House of Representatives, and led the West Point Tutor Program.
Jason chose uniformed service to learn from and lead diverse groups of U.S. soldiers, as well as service members from allied nations. At his first military assignment in Germany, he trained and collaborated with U.S. allies during multinational deployments to Finland, Romania, and the Republic of Georgia. Jason later deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel and served as the Chief of Intelligence for a team of Afghan and U.S. special operations personnel. While working alongside America’s partners, Jason witnessed how ambiguous legal statutes and policies often neglect combat realities, exacerbate threats to military troops, and degrade trust in international alliances. His experiences overseas drove his desire to advocate for the men and women executing U.S. foreign policy objectives. Jason believes that prioritizing the lives of service members and cooperating with allies will advance U.S. strategic interests and deliver solutions to global problems.