Meeting with NexxtStep Agriculture

Today, I was tasked with being Jay Biggs (FCO) right hand woman in a meeting. The intent of this meeting was help a U.S. GMO company connect with the Chinese markets. I went into this meeting extremely curious because I understand from my class with Frank Hawke that the Agricultural sector is extremely important to the CCP. As a result, it is very hard to navigate accessing this sector, especially with the monopoly that the SOEs already hold.

I met the founder and CEO at the gate of the Embassy and escorted her in. One of my strengths as an intern is certainly acting a first-point of contact for the Foreign Commercial Officers. The officers are understandably and often so busy that I notice they lose the personal touch that I find vital in meetings. Many officers, notably, are very charming and talkative with clients but I notice the conversation revolves mainly around the company’s goals. While this is important and falls within the scope of the FCS mission, I take it upon myself to help the clients feel more comfortable and talk to them in a more casual way. During this particular escort, I asked the Founder how she found herself creating a giant GMO company in under a year (from my research from the BCL!) and we were making many jokes about Monsanto. We also discussed her hometown and her flight experience to China. I noticed her demeanor was much more relaxed by the time we arrived to the FCS office.

 

During this meeting, it was the first time I saw a cross over between two departments within the embassy. Foreign Agricultural Services sent over a brilliant man who knew so much about both the biology/chemistry and industry surrounding Agriculture that I found myself reconsidering my career choice. It was fascinating–but after several hours I realized that I was inspired by the depth of his knowledge, not by the mechanics nitrogen redistribution in soil. Jay Briggs asked me to sit in for educational purposes (he is so smart that he does not need a note-taker), but I took vigilant notes regardless. This ended up being the highlight of the meeting because the CEO was unable to record advise from FCS down given that all her electronics were routinely seized at security. After noticing her frantic look and surreptitious reach for a notebook no where to be found, I took it upon myself to record notes for her benefit. I changed my methodology by dividing my notes into three columns: 1) Problem  2) FCS Advice 3) Additional Notes.

After the meeting ended, she thanked the FCO and FAO and left promptly with another intern to catch a flight. I chased after her and handed her my notebook with a smile. She was so thankful and impressed that she gave me her business card and told me not to hesitate to reach out. She also sent a follow up email later to FCS commenting on my dedication to truly helping her company. It was a simple moment but it was extremely powerful for me. I often struggle with the black-white process within the government, and I am saddened by those who seem to forget that people are key to achieving our mission. As a result, I was happy to see that it is possible to approach meetings (no matter how important) dualistically.

New Comer Events

I attended the Foreign Service 2016 Newcomer Event. Each class of new Foreign Service Officers receive a grand welcome from the already-in-place FS network and the Ambassador himself. During this event, top National Security advisors and Officers offer insight to the U.S. mission we are all working towards. It is meant to inspire the new staff and offer tangible goals each department can work towards. It was great fun discussing each department and offices work and this event provided me a large picture as to how all the cogs of the Embassy come together. I also enjoyed pretending I was more important than just a mere intern! Everyone assumed I was an officer and I gained a new sense of confidence in that erroneous assumption. This resulted in me pursuing intellect conversations surrounding the South China Sea, JCCT, Trump, and the processes that go into drafting U.S. National Security. I made several contacts who hail from D.C., and after revealing my Intern identity once asked directly my role, one woman offered me an informational interview about her work as Special Investigator for the State Department. She also offered career advice and told me to work several years before going to graduate school. This opinion has been widely expressed by those eager to give advice, so I plan to reevaluate my current path. Overall, this was one of my favorite moments during my internship experience thus far and it provided the most unexpected guidance.

2016 Cybersecurity Law

FCO Cathy Feig asked me to help her research China’s 2016 Cybersecurity Law. Specifically, she asked me to attack it in two fold: 1) What does it mean for you if you are a business? 2) What are the implications/under current meanings? S

I worked with the local translation staff and eventually, I was able to review the dense document in English. After thoroughly researching both business law and the document itself, I sent Cathy some notes. While I do not have access to the documents that would later become her talking points in a meeting surrounding this issue (they are on her government server), I do have my talking notes from the meeting in which I briefed her on the outcomes. See below.

http://chinalawtranslate.com/cybersecuritylaw/?lang=en

Biggest Concerns:

• Article 12, in general, Article 58 and Article 6 perhaps show the true essence/ intent of

this law

• Important portions of the Cybersecurity Law are written such that the scope

of state authority, and the regulations that may be imposed upon an internet

company, are entirely ambiguous. See Article 21, 28, Article 51

• Concurringly, there is more ambiguity in terms of the future parameters that

will be implemented. Article 53, for example, empowers government

departments with jurisdiction over cyberspace issues to “establish sound

cybersecurity risk evaluations and emergency response efforts.” Article 29

similarly provides that “relevant industry organizations will establish sound

cybersecurity standards and mechanisms for collaboration.” Though

subsequent regulations may provide some additional clarity, it is difficult to

find concrete principles within the law that would limit the regulations that

could be promulgated in the name of the legislation’s vaguely worded

provisions.

• Article 31 does not define CRITICAL INFORMATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

• The focus on critical sectors—telecommunications, transport, finance, IT is

very apparent

• Data (both business related and personal) must be store IN china (article 42

and article 66)

• Companies are now accountable for not only the information they publish,

but also that which they allow to spread online(article 47 and 46)

• Collection of personal data on all employees and users that is accessible by

government

• The right to “immediately initiate” shut down of operations and restrict

241st Marine Corps Ball

On November 12th, I attended the 241st Marine Corps Ball. It is a celebratory event to mark the long-standing Marine Corps and all that is has done for the U.S. Top officials  and military members from countries all over world attend this event to celebrate and network. During this event, I represented the FCS interns and met with many people. Highlights include top generals from the Army, Special Forces Members from the U.S. Australia, Canada, Israel and Japan, U.S. Diplomats, Minister of East Asian Affairs, the Ambassador and his wife, and important business partners. The Ambassador gave a speech that reminded us all of the importance of China and the U.S. armed forces in the greater scheme of our national security mission. I personally spoke with the Ambassador (pictured  above) about his thoughts on the election, U.S.-Sino Relations, ObamaCare and my future education/career path. Also attached is the promotional video of the event.

 

Excerpt from A BCL

One of my duties as an intern is to write something called a “Briefing Checklist”, or a BCL. These documents succinctly communicate what a person-of-importance needs to know before a meeting vital to the FCS mission.  More often than not, the Ambassador or a Foreign Commercial Service Officer or the Commercial Counselor, is too busy to fully research the context of a meeting. My job, therefore, is to provide a background, biographies on the meeting attendees, information about the relationship with the FCS thus far, any necessary information on the company (especially regarding Chinese markets), points of discussion, robust knowledge situations of interest that impact the meeting/may come up, and the key strategies/outcomes the acting FCS body should prioritize. The excerpt below is a the beginning of the background section in a BCL that I wrote for the Ambassador,  Mr. Max Baucus, himself.

While this information is not classified, I wish to err on the side of caution for the sake of the company. Important information is X’d out.

You are meeting with XXXXXXX, to follow up on your discussion at FCS on XXXX 2015. You are joined by the company’s Chinese partner XXX, the president of XXX. It will allow you to discuss XXX progress in building its global network of distribution thus far and its target of 8-10 FCS Matchmaking programs this year.

 XXXX is a high-tech optics company specializing in hyper-spectral imaging. XXX imaging systems are used in life science research for agricultural, environmental, biological sectors as well as in medical imaging, and quality control. Roughly seventy percent of XXX imaging systems are sold outside the U.S., with Asia as its largest market.

 You last met with XXXX in Beijing during November 2015 when XXX  thanked you for the help you provided with export licensing while you were a Senator.

“No on-boarding”

Today was one for the books. It was my first official day as an FCS intern. My hours were 1-5pm and I hurried from my language classes to the Embassy. I finally have an official so I breezily waltzed through the heavy-duty gates with a new sense of confidence. I waved to my new Marine friends and proceeded to my office.

When I arrived, the office was eerily quiet. I did a quick loop to see who was working and tried to pretend I had a purpose. The curious eyes of Chinese nationals popped up cubicles to see who the newcomer was, but the officers were no were to be found. I went to my barren cubicle and twiddled my thumbs. Admittedly, I had no idea what to do.

After sitting for about 60 seconds, I decided to be bold. I walked down the fluorescent hall to the land of the people far more important than me. Each office door indicated their occupants were in meetings, except for one. Of course, it was Mrs. Kemp’s door. She is the Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs. Or in other words, she has far more important things to do than to see me. She and I were never introduced during my weeks of erratic orientation attendance, but something overtook me and I strolled into her office.

I said “Hi Mrs. Kemp.” to which she just went “hmmm” without looking up from her computer.  The frequency that which people attack her office with questions and memos seems to give rise to a reaction that could be misinterpreted as rude or apathetic. But after seeing my mother work for years in a high-speed government office, I knew better. I smiled and said “I’m the new intern- McKenzie.” Her head snapped up and she stared at me for a second, likely with shock, and then laughed and stood up. She extended a hand and shook mine firmly. I continued with “Sorry to drop in, today is my first day and I figured the chances of ever seeing you alone again are very slim. If I am interrupting I can come back later.” In response she laughed “Oh no, no trouble at all. Please sit. You know I have never had an intern stroll in here. I suppose they are all scared of me. They are far too often trembling in their boots.”In that moment, I realized that what I did was rather crazy but it certainly paid off. I had made an impression and established a base-line relationship from which I could harvest a very valuable network web and knowledgeable mentor. After speaking with her for several minutes, she warned me “just so you know, we do no on-boarding here. You have to learn how to swim on your own.” Although I remained composed, I felt some anxiety stir in the depths of my perfectionist’s heart. I thanked her for the heads up and I told her if she needed me to do anything she could find me in the barren cubicle in intern alley. She laughed again and said “I like you already.” I left her high-end office with a small smile on my face and confidence in my stride.

I danced back to my desk to find that my official boss was still no where to be found. I realized that I could either hide in my cubicle and get away with doing nothing under the pretense that no one told me what to do. But after my conversation with Ms. Kemp, I took another chance. I opened up my fancy new government outlook email and sent a mass forward to the whole office. In sum, I told them I was new and ready to jump in and where they could find me. Within 6o seconds, two officers emailed me back with projects. As I was reading them contemplating all of my life choices leading to hitting that send button, I heard a stranger’s voice yelling “McKenzie!” over the cubicles. Hiding my dear-in-headlights eyes, I stood and saw a many with salt-and-pepper hair and intelligent eyes searching for me. I waved and he laughed and told me to come to his office. Meet Brad. He is another Commercial Officer who specializes, from my understanding thus far,  in Energy. Without any sort of introduction ( I only know what I just wrote from his door tag), he asked me to work on a project for him. I blindly agreed.

As a result, I spent three hours coordinating PowerPoints and SWOT analyses with the local staff. They certainly thought I was much smarter and experienced than I am based on all my conversations. We are working on an expo of sorts and I am very excited to see how it turns out.

Of course, I was doing Brad’s project from my computer so I had the honor of watching my outlook inbox light up like 2010 Juarez with other projects. I was also tasked with preparing a PPPT on Smart Cities for an upcoming event . Thankfully, a quick google search informed me that Smart cities were cities using technology to combat urban issues…not “pretty smart places with pretty smart people?” like I thought initially.

By 4pm, I felt spread a little thin by the high-speed, caliber, almost impersonal environment. But the inspiration I drew from my co-worker’s passion and intellect overpowered this sentiment. And the sense of accomplishment from my tiny tasks that I somehow managed to figure out without training whispered that I should carry on. I continued on and got everything done before the time stamp and exceeded expectations from what I could tell.

Just when I thought the storm was over, another Officer (do not know his name), popped his head above my cubicle and asked a deadly question “do you like shredding?”. I lied and said yes. Three hours later, which I wish was an exaggeration…I shredded two printer boxes filled with information. After several fights with a very, very angry shredder and a mishap with a staple not ready to part a packet, I realized it was 7pm. I also realized that I still felt happy and that I could keep going, whether it was intense SWOT analyses or shredding. Bring it on, I thought.

Overall, I am very EXCITED to see where this internship takes me. I learned so much on my first day and I realized that I love learning by trial-and-error. I also rise too occasions when people expect me, even if I don’t know how to approach a solution. I was very proud of my work that day. I feel more confident and motivated that ever before. Most importantly, I learned how to manage expectations. Throughout my day, I asked questions if I did not know how to do something and I even turned down a project so I would still be able to provide quality work to my current works. I think my superiors respected that decision more than if I had took on every project and did not deliver as well. All I can say is that it is going to be hilarious, informative, educational, and life-changing internship. I am ready to swim on my own.

And We’re Off.

Hello! My name is McKenzie Bush and I am junior at Santa Clara University. I am currently studying abroad in Beijing, China. I will be here until late December completing course work and an internship. This Eportflio aims to capture my experiences interning with the Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy.

To begin, I suppose I ought to explain how I acquired this internship. In my decision to study abroad, I looked for a program that would give me the opportunity to work in one of the most complicated and fascinating countries in the world. China stood out to me because of the phrase that is now commonplace: “China is on the rise.” In simple terms, I wanted to experience this rise first hand. I am lucky to pursue my undergraduate degree in International Relations as the East and Western world collide like no other time in history. I wanted to fully understand what this meant and I felt that would be no other way to do so than to work in China. As a result, the internship program at The Beijing Center caught my attention. The program possesses a robust internship placement network and initially, I asked to be placed in either a management consultant firm or magazine.  The Academic Director, Dr. Barry, then reached out and brought the FCS internship to my attention. It posed a certain type of challenge given the caliber of the applicant pool and the fact that TBC had yet to establish internship connections with them directly. Dr. Barry told me I would be given Internship credit if I could obtain the internship on my own merit.

With blind faith and what I consider (ignorance?), I applied for it. The application process was taxing and tedious with writing samples, resumes, cover letters and an extremely vague job posting. This was my first taste of government work culture, which I say in good humor! After an anti-climatic click of the send button, I waited. Two weeks of radio silence passed, and then I got an email with subject line “Request for Phone Interview”. I remember drinking an Iced Chai when I got it and some milk dribbled down my lip in response to reading this life changing line. I felt overwhelmed, excited, terrified, confused, and above all, extremely underprepared for what lay ahead. At this point, I did not understand what on earth I was even interviewing for. 

My phone interview was an emotional rollercoaster. I anticipated a one-on-one interview with a dry, serious voice and a high-caliber round of questions. I extensively researched the mission of the State Department, the Foreign Service, the current Depart of Commerce  and I did extensive background checks on the officers in that department. It was all I could do given the ambiguity present in the job responsibilities section. It was very unclear at this time where I would fit into this massive machine that never stops turning.

When the phone rang, right on the dot, I waited three rings and answered as steadily as I could. I was greeted by a chime of at least 6 voices. The voices explained that I would be interviewed by a Foreign Commercial Service Officer, a Chinese fluent assistant, the two current interns, a note taker and a member from HR. Untraditionally, the FCSO who interviewed me, started the round of questions with “so let me tell you about us.”. She proceeded to speak for 20 minutes and it was highly insightful. The most insightful of things being how little I knew and how I had nothing to offer to these veritable geniuses. I also recall registering how socially captivating almost any person that high up in the State Department in. They have an incredible way to speaking that makes you feel so comfortable and enticed, and although you are incredibly aware that they are leagues more intelligent than you, you feel as if you have known them for ages.

It was my turn. Cathy asked me odd questions. It resembled nothing like a typical interviewed. I was asked questions such as “why did you work so much while you were in school?”, and “did you like your boss?” and “what makes you tick”? and “how did you even find this posting”? It struck me as almost informal and they showed little interest in my knowledge or intellectual capacity, but looking back- the room was trying to gauge my personality. I have come to learn that if you are in State Department, you are smart. It is just a given, but then again, so is everyone. It is your personality and the way you carry yourself that sets you apart from the masses.

My theory is confirmed in this anecdote from the interview. Cathy posed the question “Do you happen to know where you will be living?”. Although I suppose she wanted a simple yes or no, and an address. I proceeded on a cringe-worthy monologue. I answered yes along with my address…and then proceeded to ramble off the entire subway transit map with three possible entry points to the embassy. It was met with silence on the other end. To my horror, my mouth then told her of the possible bus lines (15 in fact) to get there from my dorm. More silence. And then I said what I truly believe won me the internship against PhD and Masters applicants. I simply said “And you know, worse comes to worst Cathy, I can walk. It is a 124 minute long walk”.

And then I was hired. I have been told that is what got me the job over a masters candidate. I do not yet know what is in store for me at the Embassy yet, but they see something in me and I am excited to find out what that is for myself. And so begins the adventure.