Deputy Secretary of State visit

Deputy Secretary of State tells students: no one path to a career in foreign policy

Students attended the event at FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus and via livestream from FIU in Washington, D.C

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian P. McKeon likes to joke that his decades-long career in foreign policy, serving as a key advisor in the White House, Senate and Department of Defense, came about because he “hung around, didn’t screw up and stayed loyal.’’

“It was part dumb luck and part making my own luck,’’ said McKeon, who oversees billions of dollars in U.S. foreign assistance, along with diplomatic operations around the world. “Everyone in D.C. has a story like that.”

“The main takeaway here today is that there is no one path to the career you want to do in foreign policy,’’ he told a group of FIU students and faculty gathered in Miami and via livestream from FIU in Washington, D.C., for an event on careers in foreign affairs and government.

The day-long visit was organized by the Green School in collaboration with the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, FIU’s Diplomat in Residence program, the Office of Career and Talent Development and FIU in DC. “You don’t even have to be in political science or international affairs,’’ said McKeon, an attorney and former national security advisor who got his start in politics as a legislative assistant for then-Senator Joe Biden. “We need doctors and nurses, engineers and architects, law enforcement and security officers, economists. There are lots of pathways.”

Beyond foreign policy, there are also foreign service positions in economics, public affairs, consular service and management, added Mignon Houston, FIU’s Diplomat in Residence.

“No matter your background, there is an opportunity for you to make a difference,’’ said Houston, who wore a broach in honor of Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State who recently died.

McKeon said there was one common denominator among most of his colleagues in foreign service.

“They want to do work that matters,” he said. “You have 40 years of work ahead of you. You don’t want to wake up one morning and realize you are in a job that you hate.”

McKeon’s visit comes on the heels of another high-profile visit to FIU by a top U.S. official looking to recruit students for federal jobs. Samantha Power, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, recently came to campus to sign an agreement to recruit more students from FIU, particularly from underrepresented groups.

“We are recruiting for the future,’’ McKeon said, adding that the department is encouraging applicants from institutions like FIU, the largest Hispanic-serving university in the nation. McKeon’s own senior advisor, Ernesto Alfonso, graduated from FIU and joined the U.S. Foreign Service after earning the prestigious Pickering Fellowship, the first FIU student to receive that award.