Starting on the first day, interns at IWP are placed alongside practitioners of intelligence and security matters who provide an unrivaled opportunity to learn from the faculty’s wealth of public and private sector experiences. Interns are then assigned a variety of different research projects from a faculty member that cater to the intern’s specific academic interests and future aspirations.
Due to my background as a journalism major, I was tasked with researching British propaganda efforts aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion prior to WWII. Additionally, due to my language skills as a result of my upbringing in East Asia, I was asked to examine books written by a former KGB agent who was stationed in Japan and to contrast these writings to works composed by the same author in Japanese.
Interns are also given the option to participate in courses taught at IWP, whose subject matter ranges from regional security studies to statecraft analysis. I elected to audit a course titled “Case Studies in Counterintelligence,” which detailed the history and development of American counterintelligence tradecraft.
Alongside this work, interns are granted an opportunity to attend IWP’s career seminars that attract recruiters from the intelligence agencies and diplomatic departments, providing interns invaluable opportunities to network within the IWP community. Interns are given exclusive tours to locations such as the Pentagon and the State Department that act in unison with our research projects to paint a full picture of what it would be like to work in related fields.
Ultimately, my internship with IWP has not only reinforced my desire to pursue future careers related to IWP’s central mission, but has certainly created opportunities that will play a large role in influencing my professional development.
