{"id":742,"date":"2013-08-05T09:31:03","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T13:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/littlegiants-bigresults\/?p=742"},"modified":"2025-07-08T19:32:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:32:53","slug":"andrew-dettmer-15-a-summer-spy-interning-at-homeland-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/2013\/08\/05\/andrew-dettmer-15-a-summer-spy-interning-at-homeland-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Dettmer ’15: A Summer Spy: Interning at Homeland Security"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Office of Public Affairs Interns with Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napalitano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andrew Dettmer ’15:\u00a0 First let me take a moment to thank the Wabash College Political Science Department, and the Coons-Cassel committee for providing me with my grant for this summer.\u00a0 If not for their hard work year around, financial assistance, and the support they\u2019ve given me in the classroom this internship would not have been possible.<\/p>\n

I am now approaching the end of my ten week summer internship in Washington, D.C. and I am shocked by how quickly time has flown by here at the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Office of Public Affairs!\u00a0 It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in an office with a security officer handing me my badge and explaining the security protocols and procedures at our complex.\u00a0 Now as it ends, I find myself wrapping up projects and documents I\u2019ve spent the whole summer working on, and preparing to clean out my desk and turn my badge back in.\u00a0 Also, I\u2019ll miss spying on all of you. \u00a0Just kidding, we don\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve often heard horror stories from interns with other government agencies about having little to do, and only being given busy work.\u00a0 The exact opposite has been true for me, thanks in part to the departure of several full time employees whose shoes needed to be filled, but due to budget cuts had to be pushed off.\u00a0 But with their departures, came opportunities for the summer interns.<\/p>\n

One of the best things I\u2019ve learned in my position is how to create, manage, and maintain a website that represents 240,000 employees and deals with so many complex and different issues for the public. \u00a0Despite having no experience doing anything like this, my boss fully trusted that I could figure it out.\u00a0 Like a true liberal arts student, I threw myself into the task and learned on the job.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019ve completely overhauled the Department\u2019s Website satisfaction and response system, and helped initiate several Website improvements that have helped the American people use our website and interact with their government better.\u00a0 Pretty cool.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned how to use programs like Google Analytics, IdeaScale, Foresee ACSI, and Drupal CMS; programs not usually found on a Political Science major\u2019s resume, which only increases my skill set for when I leave Wabash.\u00a0 And while the practical skills I\u2019ve learned have been immeasurably valuable, the other functions I\u2019ve helped and observed have given me a more in depth view of how our country responds to all types of disasters and attacks.\u00a0 Thirty seconds from my desk is the National Joint Information Center, a room which was the center of the U.S. government\u2019s response to everything from Hurricane Sandy to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, or the Boston Bombing to Sandy Hook.\u00a0 Sitting in on calls with people we see on the news every day, and participating in drills on every type of scenario you can imagine has given me a lot of confidence in our government\u2019s ability to weather any storm.<\/p>\n

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Andrew Dettmer ’15 and Carter Adams ’15 enjoy “sweet seats” at a Nationals game courtesy of Eric Eversole ’94<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The people here have been great, and I am saddened that my time here is ending.\u00a0 The skills and experiences they\u2019ve given me will and have shaped my career path.\u00a0 However I feel I\u2019ve made the best of the summer, even taking the time to meet up with my old bosses, Eric Eversole \u201894 and Laur\u00e8ne Gros-Daillon at the Military Voter Protection Project.\u00a0 Eric was kind enough to give Carter Adams \u201915 and I his tickets that night to the National\u2019s game, and we had a blast. And of course, countless trips to museums, monuments, and famous eateries has capped off what has been an amazing summer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Dettmer ’15:\u00a0 First let me take a moment to thank the Wabash College Political Science Department, and the Coons-Cassel committee for providing me with my grant for this summer.\u00a0 If not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internships"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2013\/08\/Andrew-Dettmer-2-8-5-13.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}