Last two weeks of work

In my last two weeks, I worked on editing the multimedia audio, and media monitoring. I also had the opportunity to staff the last conference for the summer with Jon Brennan, the White House Expert Assistant to President Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, which was hosted on August 6. At this event, Brennan talked about the administration’s new strategy for the war on terror, which includes not longer calling it the “War on Terror.” I also attended an event titled "Harnessing the Spirit of L'Aquila: Improving Agricultural Productivity in Africa." Following the announcement at the G-8 Summit in Italy of a major commitment to global food security, CSIS hosted Dr. Monty Jones from the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa to discuss FARA's work and reforms in African agricultural practice. In describing emerging opportunities for international collaboration in African agricultural development, Dr. Jones emphasized priority areas for win-win U.S.-Africa partnerships.I met with the CSIS CEO, John Hamre, just two days before my last day. He introduced himself and after we talked he told me that he emailed Colin Powell and bragged about me! It felt good to know that he had a good impression of me and the Colin Powell fellows in general. My boss, Andrew Schwartz, was also really impressed and they all seemed to want me to come back and work there after I graduate. On my last day, I worked hard to finish my project, but when I met with my boss he luckily he told me that I did not have to finish it immediately. I met with him for the last time before I left CSIS to begin my fall semester at CCNY, and he had so much praise and good words to say about me. I invited him when he comes to Harlem to come and visit the Colin Powell Center and meet the other Colin Powell fellows. On my last day, I also managed to meet with Roy Levy for coffee. Mr. Levy is one of the Colin Powell alumni who was just recently hired as consultant by the CSIS. I also visited the Brookings Institution, where I listened to panelists speak about Obama’s first six months as president. The panelists talked about whether the stimulus package worked or not. Some thought that it worked, but others thought that it needed more time. There was also the notion that maybe there needs to be a second stimulus package.I returned back to New York on Wednesday, and I am now ready for the fall semester to begin.

Spending Time on Capitol Hill

As I mentioned in the last post, my tasks at CSIS were expanded into a bigger project, and I am now working on two projects concerning Obama’s speeches in Ghana and Cairo. Regarding Obama’s speech in Ghana, I am looking into the issue of governance in Africa. I am interested in learning more about the ramifications of Obama’s speech on Africa and its leaders. Right now, I am researching different publications to see the scholarly and expert analysis of the speech. Part of my research seeks to explore what the real policies towards the continent will be under President Obama when it comes to the issue of governance, which Obama made into the centerpiece of his speech. The second section of the report is to do research on Obama's speech in Cairo, which was aimed at the Muslim World. Similar to the Ghana speech, I am attempting to have a look at Obama’s policies towards the Middle East and the Muslim world, and in particular to the problem of Palestinian and Israel as well as the U.S.-Iran relationship.

This week I also had the opportunity to go to the Senate for a hearing on Sudan, where I saw some many Senators such as John Kerry and Richard Lugar. Testifiers spoke on the current situation on Sudan and the genocide in the Darfur region. What this hearing revealed to me is that, when you look at a conflict like Sudan, and try to develop a policy for it, one must examine it in terms of the bigger picture. It also taught me how the testifiers and experts can shape the opinion of policymakers and the American public.
After I finished listening to the hearing, I walked over to Capitol Hill to meet with congressman Sam Farr from California, the same congressman who helped me get my visa to come join my wife in America after waiting for a year and a half. Congressman Farr took me under his wing, and we walked from his office to Capitol Hill to the main floor, where the voting takes place. There, my host took me on a little tour, explaining to me briefly how the floor works. It was important to see how policymakers debate and work on the floor. It was very complicated and I was able to see that I still have a lot to learn!
I also had the privilege of meeting with John Lewis, the Congressman from Georgia, with whom I had abrief chat. As many of you know, Mr. Lewis is a well known civil rights icon who marched with MLK.

This last Friday, I also had the opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony of preparatory law school students at the Georgetown Law School along with my Swedish friend Daniel who introduced me to many of the professors and students. There I had a lot of fun schmoozing and thinking about the possibility of law school for the future. This graduation ceremony offered me a unique opportunity to have a taste of what law school is all about. In addition to that, I managed to network with other successful professionals who graduated from the program.

Sotomayor & More

The past two weeks I have had numerous great experiences. First, I had the great privilege of attending to Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing. I had to get up very early and wait in line for about two hours, but I felt that it was very important to attend in person. I really enjoyed the experience, and it was exciting seeing her in person being questioned by the senators. Even more exciting is the historical significance of watching a first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court! At first, I thought I might not be able to make it inside because the line was really long, but eventually I ended up in the hearing room and listened for about 20 minutes, as the policy was to let each group of twenty go in and watch the hearing for twenty minutes. It was also interesting to walk inside the senate chambers.

Back at CSIS, the leadership program organized its weekly luncheon, and the main organizer asked me to be a group leader. Each group was given a position and prepared a resolution concerning a free nuclear world. My group and I were assigned to debate on the negative side, and I was tasked with presenting the arguments for the group in front of the interns in the room. Luckily, we had two interns in my group who were from the international security program and really understood the arguments very well, so they made my job relatively easy -- all that I had to do was present it.

Last week, we all had the privilege of having breakfast with the president of CSIS, who talked to us about the American political system. He gave us a quick overview of the past 80 years of the system, and talked about how President Obama is doing so far. It was a really informative breakfast, and I understood a lot more about the system just in the nutshell that he presented to us.

I concluded this past week by getting a new assignment from my boss, Andrew. This project involves looking at Obama’s policies in the Middle East and Africa, particularly governance issues. I will have more to say once I start actually working on it next week.

Week Four

My fourth week went really well. I worked mostly on media monitoring and note taking at two events (one on Climate Change, and another on Global Health). I also took photos to be put on the CSIS website. I would say that the highlight of the week was staffing at Admiral Michael Mullen’s event that we hosted at the center. Admiral Mullen, the speaker, is the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. He spoke briefly about the Middle East and then took questions. The room was packed, including many members of the media. Additionally, I worked with congressional lists, putting them into a spreadsheet for the purpose of future events at the Center. This gave me some extra skill on how to work with excel. After I finished the congressional list project, my supervisor at the center assigned me to another project, which has to do with editing the multimedia audio. This assignment was to edit the audio and write captions for the CSIS website.

Overall, I would say that my knowledge was most expanded by the climate change event, at which the panelists spoke passionately about the bill that recently passed through the House of the Representatives and is making its way through the senate. They spoke in depth about Obama’s stance on this bill and his what his position will be when he goes to Copenhagen. On the other hand, at the global health event, which was the last event before the weekend, the speaker highlighted the fact that university campuses are becoming more interested in global health. He added that global health as policy must be supported because it would help boost global security.

Week Three!

My second and third weeks went extremely well, and I must say once again that it has been very educational. My responsibilities during this week ranged from assisting with the news crews who come pretty often to the Center to interview the Scholars, to attending a hearing on Capital Hill. I attended a hearing at the House of Representatives about the U.S-Japan relationship. The event was really informative, and there were many guests in the room. I went to the Hill three times consecutively during the week. Whenever I went there, I enjoyed the experience because it presented me with a great opportunity to see the daily routine of the work force there, including seeing where the offices of each congress-person is located. This opportunity is one of the many chances that CSIS provides interns like me with, and this is done through the director of congressional relations at the Center. Moreover, my job also entails monitoring the media. In this role I log data into a spreadsheet. I am glad to enhance my skill of working with spreadsheets, which I never had a real reason to utilize as much as I do now. Furthermore, I have also been doing research for a project that the director of communications and marketing has assigned to me, so now I am learning something about marketing and communication.
As I am headed into my fourth week, I am getting more and more projects to work on, so I am definitely getting the hands-on experience that I was looking for. I have also been attending more events both at the center and outside the center. A few days ago, I went to the Woodrow Wilson Center to see an event on Iran’s election, which was broadcast on C-Span. The speakers were great, with in-depth knowledge about Washington, DC and the world. I also attended leadership events that all the interns have to attend once a week. The speakers are very talented. I am trying to absorb and cram in as much knowledge as possible, and so far I think I'm succeeding!

First Week of Work!

My first week at work was terrific. I had a lot of fun, and I learned so much in the few days that I have been with the CSIS. It is a great place to intern. On the first day, the Center hosted a big event on cyber-security as a defense priority in the U.S. and the deputy secretary of defense William J. Lynn, III was the speaker. It was a very informative event, the highlight of my first week. I helped to organize the event, so as my first task, I think it went really well, and I absolutely loved the experience. The rest of the days of the week were filled with training, going to events, and keeping up with Outlook messages. Next week I will be doing media monitoring, and we have another big event that the center is putting together, which I will be staffing. The Center hosts a lot of events with famous and very important domestic and international leaders. It is a privilege for me to have the opportunity to listen to them and be part of this experience. I promise you with more details concerning the nature of my job as I make progress throughout this summer. So, I will keep you posted!

First Day in DC

My first day in DC went terrific. I had a lot of fun. I began by jogging in the morning around my neighborhood at 37 street in the NW side of DC. I explored where things such as shops, cafes, bus stops, and parks are located , and then I picked up a free newspaper on my way back. I returned to my new home, got ready and went to CSIS my summer internship place at K Street to check in. After, I was done there, I called a friend, who then came out and met with me for a quick coffee break around the block from K Street. Upon fininshing my cup of tea, I left and walked around my new workplace just for exploring. After a few minutes walk, I found myself in front of the White House, which is very close to where I will be working. I walked by it, gazed at the protesters infront of it, looked at the statues in the park across from it, and then sat down on the bench to have a quick snacks.
When I had rested for enough time, I got up and tried to find my way back to the bus stop so as to return to my home, and then I took a bus to my home. The bus took about 20 minutes and dropped me close by my place. At home, I met with my new roomates, one a guy and the other a landlord (female). I chatted with them for a while, and got to know them. I really like my new roommates. They are very social and hospitable. I had a good talk with my landlord, then I went up to my room on the second floor---it over looks into a beautiful back yard, that has trees with some flowers opening up and an outside patio for dinning and sitting outside. Then I took a quick nap, and read the news for a while. After the nap, I descended to the first floor for chatting with my roommates. After having talked for almost 2 hours, I went up to room--read the news again, then prepared myself for the upcoming EU and U.S conference that I am going to help organize in Jacksonville, Florida, and then after that I went to bed. I am really thrilled to be in the city, and I am looking forward to getting started on my internship next Monday after I return from my conference in Florida.

DC Summer internship

It is nice being in DC. I love the city, and so far I have had a fantastic experience about my neighborhood.