It was an exciting summer at PSA, with 26 Hill staffers completing the first session of the PSA Congressional Fellowship Program.  They met with Governor Tom Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, and Tony Lake, former National Security Advisor.  They simulated a National Security Council Deputies meeting on piracy and terror in Somalia.  They practiced negotiation techniques and met with senior White House NSC officials, and discussed bipartisanship and foreign policy issues at their Retreat at Wye River in Maryland.

We are now excited to announce the new class of PSA Congressional Fellows .  They are 29 staffers from the House and Senate, including personal, committee, and caucus staffers.  They cover homeland security, foreign affairs, military and defense, and other issues for their Members of Congress, and they bring a wide range of career experiences to the Fellowship.

The interest we saw in the high volume of applications for the Fall Session reflects the underappreciated desire for bipartisanship among Hill staffers.  The goal of our Program is to bring foreign policy staffers from both parties together to meet each other, learn skills together, and reflect on their roles in the policy process together.  It is a forum for them to make new friends and connections, share common interests, and to learn through experience that differences can be discussed openly and honestly, and in the context of a shared purpose of making better policy.

I am excited to welcome our new Fellows, and on behalf of all of us at PSA, congratulations to them.  We look forward to a great Fall.

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