These aren’t the droids you are looking for…A Senior Analyst’s Job at Homeland Security
WOULD YOU WANT HIS JOB? A senior analyst at DHS HQ has a vital mission, to secure the nation from threats and ensure resiliency. This requires the dedication of more than 240,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. A senior analyst’s duties are wide-ranging with a clear goal — contributing to keeping America safe. An analyst may have dozens of assignments and projects in the works, so the ability to prioritize is an absolute must. Agility is another must have skill as priorities are always in motion.
Critical skills include the ability to sift information and distill it into as few words as possible without losing content. This typically requires an hour or more a day of reviewing documents and research including monitoring what and who is in the news. Should a congressional hearing be scheduled on a topic, you research the stated topic of the hearing. You then might be well advised to review the footage from prior hearings. You work with a team to draft a formal statement for the record that outlines the Department’s position in context with the Administration’s objectives as stated in the news and gleaned from White House and Office of Management and Budget Direction.
So, research and writing sounds fairly simple. Not so fast. You also need to develop an understanding of the positions, constituencies and pet causes and concerns of those likely to be on the panel. You also need to know what has been said by officials from other departments, the media and if there are any pocket interests like industry, lobbyists, the media and the public any of whom might have a stake in or opinion on the issue. Finally, if practical, you must be cognizant of, if not sensitive to each of the constituencies’ concerns and political interests. The final product typically takes days to weeks to draft and review. This all culminates with a “murder board” where the individual presents her testimony to an internal audience to test the material and face a hostile audience presenting possible questions to challenge their composure under fire. Oh, did I fail to mention that the testimony must be delivered in a fixed number of minutes including interruptions? This forces the presenter and the testimony to be flexible so that material can be sacrificed without compromising the primary themes as the material is being presented.
The final testimony is prepared and submitted acknowledging issues that are likely to be discussed and gaps or weaknesses intentionally included to spur discussion of issues with feasible, likely non-confrontational, resolutions. As I have often told my staff, congressional testimony is theater. However, unlike a conventional play, each actor may have a slightly different script. It is one part reading of a prepared text, a second part, improvisation, and a third part, cross examination. Occasionally there is a final part, indictment. But I will save that story for another time.
WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS?
Basics:
- You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
- You must successfully pass a background investigation.
- Selective Service registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
- You must be available to travel, as necessary.
Education:
Senior analyst positions typically require a Master’s level or equivalent education with five years general and two years of specific experience.
In addition, it is expected that successful candidates have knowledge of
- Program specific professional subject-matter expertise;
- Economic theories including micro-economics and the effect of proposed policies on production costs and prices, wages, resource allocations, or consumer behavior; and/or macro-economics and the effect of proposed policies on income and employment and investment;
- Knowledge of public policy issues related to a subject-matter field;
- The executive/legislative decision making process;
pertinent research and analytical methodology and ability to apply such techniques to policy issues;
- The programs or organizations and activities to assess the political and institutional environment in which decisions are made and implemented;
and skill in
- dealing with decision makers and their immediate staffs. Skill in interacting with other specialists and experts in the same or related fields;
- exercising judgment in all phases of analysis, ranging from sorting out the most important problems when dealing with voluminous amounts of information to ensure that the many facets of a policy issue are explored, to sifting evidence and developing feasible options or alternative proposals and anticipating policy consequences;
- effectively communicating highly complex technical material or highly complex issues that may have controversial findings, or both, using language appropriate to specialists and/or non-specialists, facilitating the formulation of a decision;
- working effectively and efficiently under the pressure of tight time frames and rigid deadlines.
IN SUMMARY, a senior analyst at DHS is in the business in formulating highly tailored answers and feeding these answers to those with questions that may or may not be directly aligned with the questions to achieve a mutually acceptable outcome to all parties involved in the engagement.
The author has been employed at Federal level Department Headquarters of multiple agencies at a senior level since 1996. The analyst also has the benefit of having interviewed highly qualified candidates for over a 100 vacancies in the last 20 years.
This article was prepared by a current DHS employee in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the Department of Homeland Security, or the United States government.
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