Internship - Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University

The mission of the Institute is to assess the emerging security environment, develop new strategic concepts and integrated strategies to manage complex challenges, and advance strategic thinking for the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combatant Commanders, other components of the National Defense University and Joint and Professional Military Education, and the broader national security community across the whole of government. The mission calls for outreach activities to inform the security debate in the United States and abroad.
The INSS Research Directorate’s Western Hemisphere Program concentrates on a range of national security and defense policy issues in Latin American and the Caribbean and Canada. The scope of the research program varies annually. We strive to maintain a judicious balance between topics of immediate national security interest and longer-term strategic challenges that warrant careful observation and analysis. The studies often require the organization of conferences, workshops, or roundtable discussions. In addition, to expand its research efforts, the Western Hemisphere Program regularly engages U.S. and foreign practitioners, currently serving and former, as well as academicians and policy researchers in a popular professional seminar series, which examines U.S. and regional security-related topics.
Interns work directly for the Senior Research Fellow and are participating members of the team. Participants regularly track security-related events throughout the hemisphere and search for specific information on line, through NDU’s excellent library, or by interviewing officials. Interns participate in issue analysis and concept development. They regularly attend congressional hearings and meetings hosted by Washington organizations that promote dialogue on issues of major policy concern, often as the INSS representative, and draft reports to be shared within INSS and with defense clients. Interns may be asked to assist with the organization and conduct of seminars and other events. The internship provides an excellent opportunity to experience the U.S. policy debate and decision-making. Furthermore, there are opportunities to participate in a range of activities associated with the National Defense University and meet a diverse group of interesting people with deep policy experience.
This is an uncompensated internship.
The following background is desirable, but not mandatory:
• Bilingual in Spanish or Portuguese
• Academic or personal interest in Latin America and/or the Caribbean
• A graduate student, or an under-graduate in the senior or junior year
Points of contact: Senior Research Fellow: John (Jay) Cope, Colonel, US Army (ret.)
202-685-2373; copej@ndu.edu
Research Assistant/Intern Coordinator: Hannah Kraushaar (202)-685-2229; kraushaarh@ndu.edu