Foreign Affairs Officer

Summary

The Bureau of Emerging Threats (ET) leads the Department in identifying and responding to emerging and rapidly evolving technological threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy. ET's Office of Critical Infrastructure Security is responsible for addressing novel threats and disruptions to critical infrastructure vital to U.S. national security interests abroad.

Duties

• •Develops and evaluates policies and objectives on often controversial, highly sensitive, and technically complex issues that lack settled approaches.
• •Analyzes and responds to a variety of issues critical to policy development and implementation, including weighing competing objectives and reconciling conflicting priorities.
• •Tracks relevant legislation, regulations, and policy developments in key foreign countries and recommends and oversees U.S. responses.
• •Negotiates on behalf of the Office, Bureau, and/or Department in interagency meetings, as well as representing the United States in international negotiations, conferences, meetings, working groups, etc.
• •Provides authoritative advice and recommendations on issues related to the protection of critical infrastructure overseas vital to U.S. national security.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement. Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F. Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors, when specified. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in international law, international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university that included a combination of courses, with at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR Have 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics / quantitative methods. OR Have a combination of education and experience where your coursework was equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, (as shown above), PLUS appropriate relevant experience OR additional education. OR Have completed at least 4 years of appropriate experience in one OR more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs. (NOTE: qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence, study, teaching, business or commercial activities, military service, newspaper work, military or civil government activities, missionary or international relief work, or other experience in foreign countries.) Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position. IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: Experience analyzing foreign policy issues related to emerging threats. Experience collaborating with interagency partners and foreign counterparts to advance critical infrastructure policy initiatives. Experience providing analysis and advice to senior officials on critical infrastructure threats and policy issues.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials, visit: www.naces.org/members.php.