Summary The John S. McCain Strategic Defense Fellowship Program is a 1-year Department of War (DoW) development program for recent advanced degree program graduates from across multiple academic disciplines. While these are temporary appointments, Fellows that successfully complete this program are eligible to be considered for conversion into permanent positions if vacancies are available. Find out more about this Program on our website and LinkedIn page. Responsibilities This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until September 30, 2026. The Department of War is seeking applicants for the John S. McCain Strategic Defense Fellowship Program. The application period opens on December 1, 2025, with an initial cut off date of January 5, 2026. Applications received before 11:59pm on January 5, 2026 will be evaluated and assessed for current, available positions. Subsequent cutoff dates include March 5, 2026; May 5, 2026; July 6, 2026, and September 30, 2026. Qualified applicants that apply after the initial cut off date will be considered and referred if initial vacancies are not filled and if future vacancies become available. This Public Notice is to gather applications which may or may not result in a referral or selection. This position is being filled under Section 932 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019, and its later amendments Section 1113 of the NDAA Fiscal Year 2024 and Section 1112 of the NDAA Fiscal Year 2025. NDAA FY25 Sec 1112 NDAA FY24 Sec 1113 NDAA FY19 Sec 932 Assignments during the Fellows program are to an Excepted Service position either in the Office of the Secretary of War or other Department of War Components. Please read this Public Notice in its entirety prior to submitting your application for consideration. Typical work assignments may include the following: Providing strategic research, advice, and analysis to senior leaders; producing reports, briefings, and position papers for the Office of the Secretary of War. Developing long-term strategies; analyzing policy implications and impacts on plans and capabilities. Serving as Department representatives to working-level interagency or interdepartmental meetings; preparing senior defense leaders for inter-departmental and interagency meetings, Congressional testimony, and/or bilateral and multilateral engagements. In all job functions, incumbents will maintain strict security protocols for classified information, ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications In order to qualify, you must meet the requirements described below. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Applicants must meet the Basic Requirements for the Foreign Affairs (0130) series which includes: Degree: Major or equivalent, or a combination of courses totaling at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; or 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics/quantitative methods. OR Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education OR Experience: four years of appropriate experience in one or more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs. In addition to meeting the basic entry qualifications requirement, applicants must have specialized experience and/or directly related education. You may qualify at the GS-12 level, if you fulfill the following qualification requirement: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (experience may have been gained in the private sector) that demonstrates your ability in: 1) Researching and analyzing a wide variety of issues to formulate solutions 2) Developing long-term strategies resulting in successful implementation, and 3) Oral and written communication to develop and deliver briefings and correspondence/reports to higher-level managers You may qualify at the GS-11 level, if you fulfill the following qualification requirement: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the Federal Service (experience may have been gained in the private sector) that demonstrates your ability in: 1) Researching and analyzing a wide variety of issues to formulate solutions; and 2) Oral and written communication to develop and deliver briefings and correspondence/reports to higher-level managers OR Have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree OR Have a combination of specialized experience and education. You may qualify at the GS-10 level, if you fulfill the following qualification requirement: Have a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree or 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree. Education must have been completed in a college or university in the U.S. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts for verification) Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. All qualifications and education requirements must be met by the cut-off date for which you applied for and clearly documented in your resume. Your resume may not exceed two (2) pages. For qualifications determinations, it is recommended that applicants include their months and hours worked per week for each employment listed on their resume. If a determination is not able to be made about the duration of your creditable experience for qualification requirements, you will be removed from consideration. Read more about what should I include in my federal resume at https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include Education THIS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM HAS AN EDUCATION REQUIREMENT. To be eligible for this Fellowship Program, you MUST have a graduate degree (or higher) from an accredited college/university in the United States, in any field of study, that was earned no earlier than two (2) years prior to the acceptance into the program; OR will have earned a graduate degree from an accredited college/university in the United States, in any field of study, within six (6) months of acceptance into the program. Acceptance into the program is defined as the Fellow's Entry on Duty (EOD) date. Those who apply before the initial cut off date of 1/5/2026, the projected EOD date is in June 2026. IF YOU ARE RELYING ON EDUCATION TO MEET THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS POSITION: This position has an education requirement. You MUST provide transcripts to support your educational claims. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution by the the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. See Department of Education Accreditation Search to verify school accreditation. PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) were taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society. GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study Additional Information Probationary/Trial Periods: As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Trial periods are required for all excepted service employees. Trial periods served in the same position and agency with no break in service will satisfy the requirement. This position is in the Excepted Service. A current Federal Career or Career-Conditional employee selected must voluntarily relinquish his or her competitive status prior to appointment to this position. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing an online application, you may request an alternative application. Please send an email to the following address for information on how to obtain an alternative application: whs.job.application.assistance@mail.mil Current or Former Political Appointees: Agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level. If you are currently or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, or Non-career SES employee in the executive branch, you MUST disclose that to the Human Resources Office. Nepotism: Under the provisions of 5 USC 3110, an individual may not be appointed into a position if the position is under the supervisory chain of command of a relative. Under this recruitment, applicants will be accepted and selections made for vacancies as they occur. There may or may not be actual/projected vacancies at the time you submit your application. Positions may be filled at the GS-10, GS-11, or GS-12 level. Applicants may meet qualifications for more than one grade level; however, referral will only be made for the grade levels a DoW component intends to fill. The selecting official has the right to select at any of the referred grade levels, regardless of higher qualifications. Additional vacancies may be filled by this announcement. The Fellow's EOD date is contingent upon their successful completion of all pre-employment and onboarding requirements.
