Position description
The research assistant in the Foreign Policy program’s Security and Strategy team provides general administrative and research support to the Distinguished Fellow in Residence and chair of the Security and Strategy Team. Research topics include U.S. national security, defense policy, and international affairs. This is a one-year term appointment, with potential for extension.
Responsibilities:
Administrative Support (40%)
- Manages the Distinguished Fellow’s calendar; organizes and schedules daily activities and meetings.
- Arranges details of travel schedule; assembles and tracks travel expenses and reimbursements; communicates regularly with Brookings financial staff on details of reimbursements and expenses.
- Compiles materials for the Distinguished Fellow’s meetings; researches background materials and articles; assembles materials in usable, relevant formats (e.g. lecture outlines, PowerPoint slides, etc.).
- Drafts and maintains correspondence, memoranda, and other material for Distinguished Fellow; maintains electronic and paper files for all of the Distinguished Fellow’s commitments.
- Handles large volume of mail and phone calls; receives visitors and staff.
- Screens media calls and email inquiries for the Distinguished Fellow.
- Proactively contributes to communication within and between the Foreign Policy program and its Security and Strategy team.
Research Support (40%)
- Supports the Distinguished Fellow in all aspects of policy research, including support in the drafting of books, papers, opinion pieces, and blog posts, presentations and speeches.
- Collects data from various sources including the Internet, libraries, government sources, and personal contacts; reads sources for relevancy to research themes; assembles unclassified government data, documents, and reports.
- Updates and checks existing data and footnotes; provides fact-checking, editing, and proofreading of publications.
- Compiles bibliographies and chronologies; writes briefing memos; prepares notes on meetings and conferences; creates and maintains spreadsheets and databases.
- Maintains and expands databases on relevant subject matter, statistics, and forecasts as necessary.
Program and Events Support (20%)
- Works with Security and Strategy Assistant/Associate Director and FP staff to coordinate necessary logistics for events initiated or hosted by the Distinguished Fellow (general meetings, roundtables, speakers, and conferences).
- Provides the Distinguished Fellow and Assistant/Associate Director with liaison assistance to various FP and Brookings departments.
- Serves as rapporteur during meetings when needed.
- Maintains archive of event discussants and event materials.
- Provides program assistance to the Federal Executive Fellows (FEF) program including scheduling meetings and conferences, reviewing and editing FEF publications, and fulfilling various programming needs of participating military services.
Qualifications
Education/Experience Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree (preferably in international affairs, political science, or public policy) required. Master’s degree in relevant field, such as national security policy, preferred. Minimum two years of relevant work experience required; experience providing staff support for senior leaders is preferred. Must have strong academic record; outstanding research, writing, and analytical skills; plus demonstrated familiarity with defense, national security, and international affairs issues. Complete fluency in written and oral English required. Must be currently authorized to work for any employer in the United States.
Knowledge/Skills Requirements:
Superior organizational skills; strong research and analytical skills; project and event management experience; and ability to work independently and prioritize accordingly are required. Ability to effectively utilize the Internet and proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office Suite is required, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Demonstrated familiarity with international affairs, defense, and national security issues is required. Must be flexible, able to coordinate several diverse projects at the same time; and must be a congenial team player, able to work in a fast-paced environment.
