View Vacancy - Defence Force Development internship

Background:

This internship offers the opportunity to work with the British Embassy, Washington’s Defence Capability team as part of British Defence Staff US (BDSUS).  The successful applicant will conduct research in support of BDSUS’s strategic work, providing analysis to the defence capability team and the wider embassy.  Beyond this, the position will offer a wide-ranging insight into embassy’s work.  A high-performing candidate will have opportunities to work on a substantive project centred on Defence strategic influencers in D.C.  

The British Embassy, Washington D.C., and the UK’s network of Consulates-General in the US, develop and sustain the important and longstanding relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States.  The Embassy’s Foreign & Security Policy Group is the primary interface between UK and US foreign and security policy world-wide.  Within FSPG, the defence policy team report developments in the US approach to current operations in the Middle East, deterrence, innovation, personnel issues, and bilateral cooperation.   

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Take the lead on at least one self-driven strategy project, identifying relevant Think Tank and Congressional events in order to prepare a paper.  

• Attend and provide feedback on relevant Congressional hearings and Think Thank events;  

• Conduct research for BDSUS and Defence Counsellors in support of strategic and capability work;  

• Support the development of strategic direction for collaboration between the UK and US Force Development areas; 

• Due to the unpredictable nature of defence, the successful applicant will be willing to assist BDSUS at short notice on other priority issues and initiatives as they arise. 

Minimum Qualifications/Experience:

• Must be a junior or a senior in an undergraduate program or enrolled in a graduate program by the start date of your internship (least 60 credit hours of undergraduate coursework completed). Since this is an unpaid internship, students must receive college credit in exchange for their internships.

• Proven record in efficient, effective assimilation into unfamiliar working environments; 

• Skilled in team-working, strong written and oral communication abilities, fluency in the English language, and highly-organised; 

• Interest in, and some familiarity with, defence or foreign policy issues.  (Applicants do not need to have completed, nor be enrolled on, an international relations-related programme.) 

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software.