Political Science & Legal Studies Intern

About the role

This internship supports mission-relevant legal and policy research adjacent to INDOPACOM on AI-enabled military targeting. The work examines the legality, ethics, strategic tradeoffs, and operational risks of MITRE’s support to Department of War (DoW) targeting capabilities, with emphasis on collateral damage estimation, misidentification of non-combatants, human-in-the-loop requirements, and liability under international and U.S. law. The intern produces leadership-ready analysis and recommendations for MITRE.

Responsibilities

• Conduct legal, ethical, and operational research on MITRE’s support to DoW AI-enabled targeting capabilities.
• Reconstruct and analyze a recent publicly documented AI-assisted targeting error case study from open sources.
• Assess technical contributors to mistargeting, including training data limitations, sensor fusion errors, algorithm brittleness, adversarial conditions, and human-machine interface failures.
• Apply International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), U.S. DoW policy, and human-in-the-loop/on-the-loop/autonomous frameworks to assess compliance, risks, and accountability.
• Produce an 8–12-page research paper, executive briefing slide deck, 2–3-page policy memo, and annotated bibliography.

Qualifications

• Sustained excellence in academic performance.
• Must be a student enrolled full-time in an accredited degree-seeking program in Political Science, International Relations, National Security Law, Public Policy, Legal Studies, or a directly adjacent STEM-law hybrid field or a related degree and continue to be enrolled full-time the semester following the internship.
• Sophomore/Junior or Graduate student in good academic standing recommended.
• Coursework or demonstrated familiarity with International Humanitarian Law, Law of Armed Conflict, U.S. military law, or international law frameworks.
• Prior research experience and ability to write papers, thesis, law review submission, policy memo, or equivalent independent writing of at least 10 pages demonstrating analytical rigor.
• U.S. citizen eligible for security clearance processing and able to analyze AI/autonomous systems at a non-technical but substantively informed level.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated interest in serving the public.
• Demonstrated research or writing distinction preferred.
• Ability to translate dense legal doctrine and technical concepts into clear, concise, leadership-grade writing.

Pay

Salary compensation range: $46,500 - $58,000 - $69,500 annual.

Schedule

Work location type: Onsite.