Internship Spotlight: Department of State

NAME: Casi Buch

CLASS: MPIA ’13

INTERNSHIP: U.S. Department of State in the Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.

LOCATION: Harry S. Truman Building in Washington, D.C.

INTERNSHIP: U.S. Department of State in the Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.

LOCATION: Harry S. Truman Building in Washington, D.C.

DUTIES:

Readouts: Interns in our office regularly attended meetings and events and conducted research on related foreign policy issues, writing “readouts” and briefing the Under Secretary and her staff on the issues covered. As a Spanish speaker, I was assigned to all meetings or events in Spanish. Working Groups: Interns can serve on project teams or working groups for particular issues or tasks. I led a working group to create foundational documents on transitional justice. Briefing Checklists: Interns also coordinated “Briefing Checklists” or talking points with background notes for the Under Secretary’s meetings and trips. I was responsible for the checklists for the Under Secretary’s meeting with the second-in-command at USAID. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

My Under Secretary presided over the following Bureaus and Offices: Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), Conflict Stabilization Operations (CSO), Counterterrorism (CT), Global Criminal Justice (GCJ), Combatting Trafficking in Persons (TIP), and Global Youth Issues (GYI).

This internship was an amazing opportunity. It gave me a bird’s-eye view of the State Department. I was able to work with Civil Service and Foreign Service employees as well as political appointees and contractors. I also got to meet a lot of high level U.S. and foreign government officials, as well as Will Smith.

One of the disadvantages of interning with the State Department is the sheer number of interns that come through the program, mostly undergraduates. This means you have to work hard to prove that you, as a graduate student (of the Bush School), are willing and able to take on more responsibility than most interns. You have to work harder to stand out.

MORE INFORMATION:

More information on the program can be found at http://careers.state.gov/students/programs Ambassador Larry Napper is an excellent resource for State Department internship questions. If you have further questions for me, you can email casi.buch@gmail.com or stop by 1030.