Washington Internships - Deirdre Martinez

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https://www.fbijobs.gov/honors.asp

      From their website: “Once selected, FBI Interns can look forward to three extremely rewarding and interesting months. You'll be working side-by-side with Special Agents and Professional Support personnel on important cases and procedures. You'll feel like you're a part of the Bureau…because you are. Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., Honors Interns will attend an orientation at the FBI Headquarters. Interns will be assigned to an FBI Headquarters division based on their academic discipline, potential contribution to the division, and the needs of the FBI. For instance, interns whose discipline is in the physical sciences may be assigned to the FBI Laboratory's Forensic Science Research and Training Center in nearby Quantico, Virginia. All interns will be under the Supervision of the Assistant Director of their assigned division. By the end of your internship, you will have a thorough understanding of the inner workings of the FBI.” FBI interns are paid at the GS-6 level, which works out to about $2,000 a month. Deadline is November 1.

       Central Intelligence Agency

       http://www.cia.gov/emplooyment/student.html1#top

      From their website: “You will be given the opportunity to work with highly-skilled professionals and see first-hand the role the CIA plays in supporting US officials who make our country's foreign policy. We are interested in students majoring in engineering, computer science, mathematics, economics, physical sciences, foreign languages, area studies, business administration, accounting, international relations, finance, logistics, human resources, geography, national security studies, military and foreign affairs, political science and graphic design. Interns are required to work either a combination of one semester and one summer internship, or two 90-day summer internships.” CIA pay is competitive, and their deadline is November 1.

       United States Department of State

       http://www.careers.state.gov/student/programs/student_internships.html

      From their website: “It's an opportunity for you to get an inside look at the different types of positions and responsibilities available in foreign affairs. Think of it as taking a career test ride before you actually have to decide what you are going to do with your life.” Students tentatively selected for the internship program must undergo a background investigation and receive either a secret or top secret security clearance. Deadline is November 1.

       What You'll Do

      Because of the huge variety of placements possible, it's very hard to say what you might do. One student at the Federal Trade Commission this past summer spent most of his time working on legal briefs, which was great preparation for law school. Another student with the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction spent much of her time researching and writing for a book the office was preparing on the story of Iraq reconstruction. Another student at the Department of Defense spent most of his time finding his way around the Pentagon and running errands. As we'll discuss in the next chapter, it is critical that you ask questions during the interview so that you're clear on what kind of assignments you can expect. We'll also talk more about strategies to get better assignments.

       THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WANTS YOU…WE THINK…

      According to Call to Serve, a nonprofit whose mission is to encourage young people to seek jobs with the federal government, the federal government will need to fill 193,000 “mission-critical” positions by 2009. You might think that given their need to recruit high-quality personnel there would be countless internship opportunities available. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find open internship positions, and the hiring process is often tedious. There are two websites that might be helpful: http://studentjobs.gov and http://www.makingthedifference.org/index.shtml.

      As for timing, while it's possible to find an announcement for an internship at one of the agencies in March for the coming summer, there are a number of federal agencies that require a very early start. For these agencies, they often suggest you start collecting the required documents a full year before the summer you intend to participate in the internship, and their deadline for applications is typically November for a June start date. While the more competitive and prestigious internships do tend to have earlier deadlines, the other practical reason for the early deadline is that applicants have to go through a security clearance process. More on security clearance in the next chapter.

       The People You'll Meet

      This of course varies widely depending on your assignment and your networking skills. One student who was assigned directly to an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce spent all of her time working closely with senior staff and came away with a solid understanding of the work of the office and lots of good contacts. Another student at the Department of Health and Human Services was assigned generally to an office and really never got past answering phones, so was not able to connect with staff in a way that showed off his research skills. Again, it's best to be clear in the interview what the workload will be and how you will be assigned work so that you can make an informed decision about the internship offer.

       What You'll Get

      Federal agencies often use internships as a way to recruit individuals for full-time work, so choosing an internship in an issue area that is of particular interest to you could well lead to employment after college or at the very least some well-placed references.

      GOOD BOOKS

      Interest Group Politics by Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis (2006)

      “Advocacy Organizations in the U.S. Political Process” by K. T. Andrews and B. Edwards, Annual Review of Sociology 30: 479-506 (2004)

      In this section we'll talk about two similar types of organizations: advocacy groups and think tanks. Advocacy groups are nonprofit organizations that run the gamut from tiny to impressively large. Unlike think tanks, advocacy groups don't typically have lots of Ph.D.s on staff who write big books and spend their Sunday mornings on television (though some do). Advocacy groups are perhaps a little more connected to issue campaigns on which their organization takes a position and conducts, well, advocacy to achieve their goals. This might include getting the word out to their members, who then contact their Members of Congress; meeting directly with Members of Congress or providing congressional testimony; and holding events that might get picked up by the media. For example, Common Cause is a very old and well-respected organization that sees itself as a “vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.” That means they take an issue—say, for example, money in politics—and conduct some research, talk to people, and then try to change how things are done. In the money in politics example, they spend a lot of time trying to change campaign finance law so that wealthy people don't have more influence in politics than everyone else, which is their view of the status quo.

      The profile for think tanks is a little different, though sometimes the differences are not terribly clear. Like some of the most well-established advocacy organizations, there are a number of think tanks in Washington that are very well funded and have large staffs. While the work varies widely, at think tanks the work is more focused on research and on informing policy debate, rather than directly influencing policy debates. This is not to say that they don't have a clear political view; almost all of them have a consistent political perspective on policy issues and most are fairly open about where they fall on the political spectrum. To get a better sense of what think tanks do, see the profiles that

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