Department of State

At the Department of State for class

On Wednesday for class we went to the Department of State for a briefing as our professor calls it. It was really cool because we got to hear from 2 different speakers and then go to the Operations Room.

Our first speaker was Deborah Graze who is the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor. She was a foreign service officer as well and told us more about the Foreign Service and also what her specific bureau did. It's actually really interesting cause they have to publish a report online every year about human rights abuses in every country, even the United States! And this report is funded by the US Congress, and the data is taken from Embassies and NGOs and IGOs, and then they also talk to the Governments of the countries as well. It's a long process, but I think it would be a really interesting report to read and it's great that it is accessible to the public.

We also had a previous WII student speak to us. I think she worked in the Conflict Management or Conflict resolution bureau. She is a presidential management fellow which is a fellowship you can get while you are in graduate school and then you can work for the Department of State and they either pay for all of grad school or a part of it. So she talked to us about that and also how WII had helped her and how she got her career started at the Department of State.

Then we got to go to the Operations Room on the 8th floor, I believe, of the State Department. This was the coolest part. When we got off the elevators we could see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's office, but unfortunately we didn't see her! I had my eyes focused on the office for a long time but she never came out!

We went down the hall from her office to the Operations Room where they deal with the crises. There is a crisis management part and then an operations room part. The Operations room was set up by Kennedy during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and since then there has been someone in the room 24/7. This room exists for when anything bad happens in any part of the world that could affect US interests or US citizens. The job of the people who work there is to call up our ambassadors in that country, find out what is going on, and then write up an analysis for the Secretary of State. One report is due to the Secretary at 5:30am and one at 3pm, and if she is traveling then it is still due at the same time but it has to get to her at 5:30am and 3pm her time wherever she may be. Because of this they have a clock in the Operations Room called "Secretary Time" so they can get her her report on time.

The Operations Room, as I mentioned earlier, is staffed 24/7 and there is even a swinger who bridges the shifts so there is always a person there. We also got to sit in the task force room where they put together task forces when there is a disaster. We were actually sitting in the chairs where the different members of the task force sat when they dealt with the Kyrgyzstan conflict and the Haiti earthquake. For the Haiti earthquake they had 3 task force rooms set up though because it was such a big problem. When a task force is set up they are there at their computers 24/7 as well, and it is usually a member from each bureau of the State Department. It was pretty neat and I had no idea that this place even existed.

We also got to meet a girl who interned there and she was a Undergrad Pickering Fellow which is a program you can apply to as a junior in undergrad, and if you get in you spend one summer taking classes, and then the next summer interning at the Department of State. Then you have to go to one of 15 grad schools on their list and then you get an automatic entry into the foreign service and have a commitment of 4 years. It seemed really cool, and I'm thinking of applying especially because you can get into the Foreign Service that way without having to pass the test! Also if you get in your life is set and you have a job right out of grad school without having to find one yourself, which sounds amazing. So it's definitely a possibility and the girl we met highly recommended it. But it is also very hard to get into, but it's worth a try

This summer is definitely making me think more and more about what I want to do, and it's hard because everywhere we go to visit I like, and I think everything the people do that we meet is interesting, and I don't want to have to choose, I want to do it all.

I'm also beginning to be interested in International Development as well and maybe working for USAID, but I really have no idea, it just seems like an interesting field, but so does the Foreign Service...too many tough decisions!