Michael
Orona

Michael Orona has served at the U.S. Department of State for over 20 years, where he has held an array of senior-level foreign policy advisory positions in Washington, D.C., and around the world.  This includes serving at the White House as National Security Council Director for Africa Affairs and at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, where he negotiated the release of three prisoners of conscience.  In 2004, Mr. Orona established and led the State Department’s Sudan Atrocities Documentation team, which was dispatched by the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to investigate the violence in Darfur. 

In 2021, Michael was selected to serve as the State Department’s Senior Advisor for International Indigenous Issues, where he currently co-leads the White House Committee on International Indigenous Human Rights and oversees U.S. foreign policy regarding the rights of Indigenous peoples around the world.

Aside from a juris doctorate degree in international law, Mr. Orona also earned an M.S. in Military and Strategic Policy Studies from the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, where he was presented the Foreign Area Officer Association award for Exceptional Research in International Affairs. He is a life member of The Council on Foreign Relations. 

Michael is a member of the Chihene Mimbreno band of Apache and of Yaqui ancestry.  His novel, “The Brave Ones,” is a historical Native American narrative and Yaqui perspective on the struggle for equality and justice.