(no subject)
I am so very, very excited right now.
Many of you may know, though others may not, that I'm currently participating in an internship at the State Department, in the Bureau of Verification and Compliance. We are the people who monitor global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and who verify that nations that have signed arms-control treaties are adhering to those treaties. Perhaps that is an overly simplistic explanation, but I must admit that the bureaucratic turf wars at State are so horrid that I don't think there is an "official" definition of what we do; doubtlessly, if we tried to do it, someone would complain that we were impinging on their area of responsibility.
With this internship comes real responsibility and unfettered access that far exceedes what I expected out of the internship experience. I am called upon weekly to participate on research papers and case-studies, to write memoranda, to attend meetings and seminars, and only after that to do some of the less important clerical tasks and odd-jobs. For every hour that I spend delivering memos and retrieving the mail from 3 mail-stops flung across the building, I spend 5 hours reading intelligence summaries on various rogue states and another hour working on the latest paper revolving around one of those nations.
But best of all, I feel like a member of the team there. I've compared notes with some other interns, and generally they sit in a corner, make coffee, and fetch pens and notebooks from the supply cabinet when required. I'm treated as an employee, required to attend staff meetings and report on my projects, and to submit weekly summaries of the tasks I've accomplished for review by the higher-ups. I've made friends with various members of the staff, and we eat together, attend social functions, and interact as equals. And, in the process of doing what needs to be done, I've dealt with the Pentagon, most of the 17 official intelligence agencies, and the National Security Council. Classified e-mails, documents, faxes, telephone calls, the works. I geek out on a daily basis.
On the other hand, I also worry about my big mouth letting something slip, which is why I am steadfastly trying *not* to comment publically about international affairs. I really would like to not spend 15 years in jail for espionage or mismanagement of classified information. And contrary to popular belief, we are not issued "flashy-thingies" and we do not wear black suits unless we work for CIA.
But why am I excited right now, above all else?
TOPOFF.
TOPOFF, you ask? "TOP OFFicials." It's a massive coordinated bioterror attack simulation that's about to kick off next week, featuring over 10,000 participants from federal, state, local and international authorities. TOPOFF will feature a joint chemical/biological attack against sites in Connecticut, New Jersey, Ottawa and London that have to be responsed to in painstaking, real-time fashion over the course of a week. Check out the DHS description:
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0594.xml
I am excited because I get to stand at least one watch in the State Department Operations Center during the crisis! In some small way I will be responsible for the input of my office during that time. Perhaps a decision will have to be made and my suggestions will be considered. Perhaps nothing important will be happening in that block of time, and I will merely notate in the log that things were calm. I will be briefed in at the start of my shift, will hold the post for a period of time, and will then brief the next watch-stander on developments in the crisis. All the while, I am sitting in a very expensive and very technologically savvy operations center that is the actual nerve center of the building. Dare I wonder if I'll see Condi? Her office is right next door...
Regardless of how much I get to do, I'm going to be personally involved in one of the largest simulated crises ever performed by the Federal Government. This will probably be one of the highlights of the last year, somewhere above meeting Colin Powell but below spending a week being paid by the government to work on Maui.
Many of you may know, though others may not, that I'm currently participating in an internship at the State Department, in the Bureau of Verification and Compliance. We are the people who monitor global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and who verify that nations that have signed arms-control treaties are adhering to those treaties. Perhaps that is an overly simplistic explanation, but I must admit that the bureaucratic turf wars at State are so horrid that I don't think there is an "official" definition of what we do; doubtlessly, if we tried to do it, someone would complain that we were impinging on their area of responsibility.
With this internship comes real responsibility and unfettered access that far exceedes what I expected out of the internship experience. I am called upon weekly to participate on research papers and case-studies, to write memoranda, to attend meetings and seminars, and only after that to do some of the less important clerical tasks and odd-jobs. For every hour that I spend delivering memos and retrieving the mail from 3 mail-stops flung across the building, I spend 5 hours reading intelligence summaries on various rogue states and another hour working on the latest paper revolving around one of those nations.
But best of all, I feel like a member of the team there. I've compared notes with some other interns, and generally they sit in a corner, make coffee, and fetch pens and notebooks from the supply cabinet when required. I'm treated as an employee, required to attend staff meetings and report on my projects, and to submit weekly summaries of the tasks I've accomplished for review by the higher-ups. I've made friends with various members of the staff, and we eat together, attend social functions, and interact as equals. And, in the process of doing what needs to be done, I've dealt with the Pentagon, most of the 17 official intelligence agencies, and the National Security Council. Classified e-mails, documents, faxes, telephone calls, the works. I geek out on a daily basis.
On the other hand, I also worry about my big mouth letting something slip, which is why I am steadfastly trying *not* to comment publically about international affairs. I really would like to not spend 15 years in jail for espionage or mismanagement of classified information. And contrary to popular belief, we are not issued "flashy-thingies" and we do not wear black suits unless we work for CIA.
But why am I excited right now, above all else?
TOPOFF.
TOPOFF, you ask? "TOP OFFicials." It's a massive coordinated bioterror attack simulation that's about to kick off next week, featuring over 10,000 participants from federal, state, local and international authorities. TOPOFF will feature a joint chemical/biological attack against sites in Connecticut, New Jersey, Ottawa and London that have to be responsed to in painstaking, real-time fashion over the course of a week. Check out the DHS description:
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0594.xml
I am excited because I get to stand at least one watch in the State Department Operations Center during the crisis! In some small way I will be responsible for the input of my office during that time. Perhaps a decision will have to be made and my suggestions will be considered. Perhaps nothing important will be happening in that block of time, and I will merely notate in the log that things were calm. I will be briefed in at the start of my shift, will hold the post for a period of time, and will then brief the next watch-stander on developments in the crisis. All the while, I am sitting in a very expensive and very technologically savvy operations center that is the actual nerve center of the building. Dare I wonder if I'll see Condi? Her office is right next door...
Regardless of how much I get to do, I'm going to be personally involved in one of the largest simulated crises ever performed by the Federal Government. This will probably be one of the highlights of the last year, somewhere above meeting Colin Powell but below spending a week being paid by the government to work on Maui.