Melissa L. Skorka currently serves as a Political Advisor on the COMISAF Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT) in Afghanistan.  She recently completed a 12-month tour embedded as a U.S. Department of Defense Social Scientist with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division in eastern Afghanistan, where she focused on counter-insurgency and stabilization initiatives in the homeland of the Haqqani Network.  Prior to that, she worked as Director of the Security Fellowship at the Truman National Security Project in Washington, D.C.

Skorka is a graduate of the University of California-Davis and earned a double master's degree as a Rotary Scholar from Oxford University, where she studied U.S. foreign energy policy and security dynamics in Nigeria's Niger Delta. Skorka has conducted briefings on topics related to the war in Afghanistan for the National Security Council, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Departments of Defense and State, and senior Congressional staff.