About This Career

International and civil affairs officers have extensive in-country experience in a designated region. They build effective relationships with governments, militaries, and locals and they support a variety of international engagement activities, from humanitarian relief to intelligence collection. They serve as primary advisors to government agencies across service branches on all stages of operations planning because of their regional and cultural expertise.

This career is part of the Government and Public Administration cluster National Security pathway.

A person in this career:

• Establishes cooperative relationships with host nation populations, military, government agencies, and organizations
• Supervises enlisted, civilian, U.S., and foreign support personnel; manages administrative and logistics functions in support of an office located in an embassy of the United States of America
• Coordinates and manages collection, processing, and dissemination of human intelligence (HUMINT) gathering pertaining to assigned area
• Provides cultural and regional expertise to leadership and participate in all phases of civil-military operational planning
• Advises personnel and visitors on matters of security, protocol, military courtesies, and public affairs
• Builds and maintains in-country social and service contacts to carry out mission objectives
• Conducts analytical studies based on regional situations and trends, and prepares studies, reports, and surveys on political implications of proposed actions
• Liaises across U.S governmental agencies and military service branches involved with international affairs to present and interpret positions to interdepartmental and international groups affecting negotiations and recommendations on treaties and international agreements
• Assists in conducting assessments, coordination, analysis, production, and processing of civil affairs products
• Serves as key advisor and consultant to commanders and supervisors on issues pertaining to foreign language and regional culture

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Irregular hours
• Overnight travel