Foreign Affairs Officer

Summary

These positions (two GS-11s and one GS-13) are located in the Bureau of Emerging Threats (ET), Office of Threat Assessment (ET/TA). ET/TA serves as the Department's early warning system, identifying and assessing near-term national security threats with partners across government, industry, and academia, briefing principals on courses of action, and launching task forces to drive coordinated, whole-of-government responses.

For more information about the Bureau, please click ET.

Duties

Help

• Conducts systematic horizon scanning to identify emerging threats and opportunities at the nexus of technology and national security relevant to U.S. foreign policy interests.
• Develops and refines structured methodologies, criteria, and analytical tools for assessing emerging threats, ensuring alignment with ET/TA's strategic objectives and the Department's foreign policy priorities.
• Drives ET/TA's shift from analysis to action by translating threat assessments that clear the office's assessment threshold into concrete mitigation strategies and policy interventions.
• Builds buy-in among senior leadership and the broader Department by preparing and presenting materials and analysis for approval by senior Department leadership.
• Establishes and maintains strategic relationships with key stakeholders across the Department of State, U.S. Government interagency, private sector, academia, and international partners to support ET/TA's Threat Assessment mission.
• At the GS-11 level, the incumbent performs duties as outlined above; however, the scope and complexity of assignments are of less responsibility and independence. The incumbent receives closer than normal supervision than at the GS-13 level.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.
• Obtain/maintain eligibility to access Sensitive Compartmented Information

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.

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.

To be considered for GS-11, applicants must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position and must meet one of the following requirements:

A. Have at least 1 full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service which provided you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience researching emerging technology developments that affect national security or foreign policy.
• Experience summarizing data with established analytical tools or criteria to support threat assessments.
• Experience drafting sections of reports or briefing materials on national security or foreign policy topics.

-OR-B. Have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.M. from an accredited college or university.

-OR- C. Have a combination of graduate level education and specialized experience (as described above), which is equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal Service. This experience and education together meets 100% of the qualification requirements for this position.

Combination of Experience and Education: When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement, he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements. Generally, 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full-time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study). The percentage of specialized work experience and the percentage of graduate study must total at least 100%.

To be considered for GS-13, applicants must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 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 conducting horizon scanning or strategic foresight analysis to identify technology-related threats to U.S. national security.
• Experience applying structured analytic techniques or assessment criteria to evaluate national security threats.
• Experience developing policy options to mitigate national security threats.

Note: All applicants WILL BE required to submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you may lose consideration for this position.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.

When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement, he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements. Generally, 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full-time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study). The percentage of specialized work experience (for example, 6 months equals 50%) and the percentage of graduate study (for example, 9 graduate hours for a GS-07 equals 50% where 18 graduate hours constitute a full time year) must total at least 100%.

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.

Additional information

• To request a reasonable accommodation for additional time on the timed sections of the assessment, please submit your request using the "Request a Reasonable Accommodation" button within the Assessment Application.
  
  For all other reasonable accommodations at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations (OAA) at OAA@state.gov.
  
  OAA is responsible for reviewing and adjudicating reasonable accommodation (RA) requests for the Assessment Battery being used for this announcement. The following applies to all RA requests:
  
  
  • RA requests cover additional time on timed sections only.
  
  
  
  • Applicants submitting a RA request MUST attach supporting medical documentation signed by a licensed, treating medical provider. The documentation should describe the nature, severity, and expected duration of the condition, identify the relevant medical condition or diagnosis, and explain the basis for the requested extension. RA requests that do not contain supporting medical documentation attachments at the time of initial request may be subject to further review.
  
  
  
  • Note: the following documents do not, on their own, qualify for automatic approval of the RA request: Schedule A letters, VA benefits letters, or SSA letters.
  
  
  
  • Applicants MUST submit their application before the vacancy closes, even if pending an accommodation decision.
  
  
  
  • Applicants are encouraged to carefully follow instructions related to medical documentation provided in the vacancy announcement prior to beginning the RA process.
  
  
  
  • Applicants will have 48 hours after their RA request is adjudicated to complete the assessment battery. Scores generated after the allotted timeframe will not be admissible and the applicant will not be considered further for the vacancy.
  
  
  
  • If a different type of RA is needed, please contact OAA directly at OAA@state.gov.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement. If eligible, applicants to this announcement may be referred to other similar positions in other Bureaus/Offices in the Department for up to 240 days and may require a higher or lower security clearance. Telework eligibility and security clearance requirements may vary for such similar positions.
• Agency & Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP & ICTAP): View OPM's CTAP & ICTAP eligibility website for more information. You must be rated in the Well-Qualified category and submit supporting documents under the required documents section of this announcement to receive selection priority consideration. To be considered Well-Qualified applicants must: score an 85 or above, meet Minimum Qualifications, and demonstrate proficiency in some, but not all major aspects of the position.

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.