Melissa Hathaway joined Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a senior advisor to its cybersecurity initiatives in 2009. She is participating and contributing to the joint MIT–Harvard Project on Technology, Security, and Conflict in the Cyber Age (Project Minerva). The primary objective of this project is to generate theoretical, policy, and strategy frameworks to assess threats and identify opportunities in cyberspace for national security, welfare, and influence for international relations in the 21st Century.  She is contributing to the interdisciplinary research program by developing methods to measure, model, interpret, and analyze challenges and responses in cyberspace.  More recently, Hathaway has been contributing to cybersecurity research initiatives at both the Belfer Center and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Hathaway served in two U.S. presidential administrations, spearheading the Cyberspace Policy Review for President Barack Obama and leading the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) for President George W. Bush. At the conclusion of her government service she received the National Intelligence Reform Medal and the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation Medal in recognition of her achievements.

Hathaway has a B.A. degree from The American University in Washington, D.C. She has completed graduate studies in international economics and technology transfer policy and is a graduate of the U.S. Armed Forces Staff College, with a special certificate in Information Operations.