Internship Spotlight: Summer Internships in Government and Intelligence

What exactly is an internship? When browsing internship postings, it can be difficult to imagine the day-to-day work and potential projects you could be assigned. Luckily, we can tap into our BC network and ask current BC students about their prior internships. Keep reading to hear from three BC undergraduates as they explain the assignments they completed while interning in government and government-adjacent positions. These students received funding through the Eagle Intern Fellowship (EIF) program which provides financial support for students completing unpaid internships.

Evan Fagan, MCAS ‘22

Major: International Studies
Internship Organization: U.S. Commercial Service

Prior to this summer, I believed that while getting an internship in the government sphere would be critical to me finding a job after graduation, all I would really be doing during one of these internships was filing papers or responding to emails for one of my supervisors. However, I was pleasantly surprised when my supervisor at the U.S. Commercial Service informed me that, not only would I be able to choose my own projects to do research on, but I would be able to present these findings myself to our clients. This gave me a sense of professionalism with my work and I was quickly able to present my first round of findings. 

My project consisted of researching international student markets to help a client university in Massachusetts expand their international student recruitment. I had tried to find markets that I thought would be relatively not competitive while still yielding high results, and I found that Morocco was a great fit for the university. While I was certainly nervous for my presentation, as it was my first one during the internship, our client was very excited about the possibility of partnering with a Moroccan high school, as this market was not one they had ever considered before. I then spent several weeks reaching out to our colleagues in Morocco and setting up meetings between them and our client. All of the meetings were successful and I was very proud to know that I was making a meaningful contribution to this university and hopefully allowing a wider range of international students to attend university in the U.S. This really changed my outlook on government internships and also opened my eyes to a wider range of government paths that I never thought I would be interested in.

Cameron Price, MCAS ‘22

Major: Political Science
Internship Organization: The Counterterrorism Group (CTG)

While working in the intelligence community can be quite a rewarding experience because of its dedication to public service and its immense importance in protecting national security, it can also be quite difficult as it is a career that frequently lacks instant gratification. Within the intelligence field, analysts will often spend days, weeks, or even months on reports that are either never seen by individuals who have the ability to take tangible action upon digesting the information, or turn out to contain predictions that never come to fruition. In essence, a career as an intelligence analyst is often marred by two things: getting predictive reports both right and heard. Given the complexity of the ever-advancing environment in which intelligence agencies work, this is an extremely difficult task and can often be self-defeating, leading analysts within the field often struggling to continue believing that the work they do is making a positive impact. 
After spending the previous three months as a counterterrorism analyst intern at the Counterterrorism Group (CTG), I can safely say that I echo these same sentiments. However, when you do get a prediction in a report correct after spending countless hours researching and anticipating the potential outcomes of an event, you remember exactly why you do this job all over again and it makes the feeling that much more gratifying. With that said, I can confidently say that the most impactful moment from my internship occurred when I, and my fellow intern teammates, correctly predicted the outcome of the 2021 Iranian presidential elections. In doing so, we accurately assessed the implicating factors that it would have not only in US-Iran relations moving forward, but also in Iran’s relations with other countries in the foreseeable future. Here is a link to that very report.

Julia Swiatek, MCAS ‘22

Major: Psychology
Internship Organization: International Trade Administration

During my time at the International Trade Administration, I was pushed out of my comfort zone by taking on an entirely independent project using software I had no experience with.

For my internship, I was assigned to the Global Healthcare Team of the ITA, tasked with increasing U.S. health technologies exports through industry analysis, trade policy development, trade promotion, and addressing trade barriers. Unfortunately, the Team was in the middle of a transition in leadership, and at first, there was little for me to work on other than administrative tasks. I sought a more substantive project, so I reached out to a Global Healthcare Team member from ITA’s Washington DC office.

The Healthcare Team colleague from DC suggested that I build a visualization of supply chains for two medical devices, in order to demonstrate the complexity of these chains and hence elucidate why they become disturbed by phenomena like the COVID-19 pandemic. The first step I took was to research all the parts of the two medical devices I would represent in my visualization—a pacemaker and hip implant. After I had compiled all of the components and subcomponents of the devices, I began looking into the raw materials used to produce these parts and what areas of the world they are sourced from. Finally, it was time to make the information I had gathered into a chart. I chose to use PowerBI, a program I had no experience with, but that I knew had very useful capabilities for data visualization. After some trial and error, a little bit of programming, and finishing touches, I had finally made an interactive Sankey chart of the two supply chains. The Sankey chart neatly, visually connected sources of materials to components to the final product.

All in all, the project was a great experience in project management and technology. It also was a useful tool for my coworkers at the ITA to better understand healthcare technology supply chains.

Want to learn how to secure an internship? Check out the resources on the Government, Law, and Public Policy page and schedule an appointment with a career coach!