Michael Polyak Email & Phone Number

Washington, DC, US

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

Serve as foreign policy advisor for Senator Dan Sullivan. Provide guidance on legislation and participation within relevant Congressional committees; manage the Senator’s engagements with external stakeholders and represent the Senator in meetings with foreign governments, civil society, and private sector.

Algiers, Algeria

Lead the development, coordination and implementation of counterterrorism (CT) diplomatic engagement, programs, and other related initiatives in the Maghreb and Sahel regions. Manage network of relationships with relevant foreign government, private sector, and U.S. interagency counterparts working on CT in each regional country. Track, assess, and report.

Brussels, Belgium

Supervised a six-person team of officers covering NATO operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, as well as counterterrorism, ballistic missile defense, Eastern Mediterranean issues, and a broad range of strategic planning efforts. Served as lead U.S. negotiator in NATO’s committees on Middle East operations. Advised the Embassy's leadership on NATO.

Brussels Area, Belgium

Served as lead U.S. representative for Alliance issues including counterterrorism affairs, NATO's Iraq mission, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Iran, and Ballistic Missile Defense. Formulated policy recommendations with interagency counterparts, represented the United States in NATO committees and negotiated Alliance deliverables with 29 other NATO.

Washington, D.C.

Managed the State Department’s country desk for Algeria. Provided expertise and policy guidance on Algeria and North African affairs. Served as the focal point for policy coordination between Washington and U.S. Embassy Algiers. Served as the primary liaison to the Algerian Embassy, business, media, and NGOs on issues pertaining to Algeria. Drafted policy.

U.S. Embassy Pristina, Kosovo

Managed U.S. Political-Military affairs in Kosovo. Served as the Embassy’s liaison for security policy issues with the Kosovo government, the NATO KFOR mission, NATO Advisory Teams, the U.S. Mission to NATO, and the Kosovo Security Force. Served as lead interlocutor with Kosovo government counterparts on Kosovo's integration into international.

U.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan

Managed the Embassy's Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) portfolio: oversaw management of grants to 13 local implementing partner organizations charged with humanitarian demining, weapons and munitions destruction, mine risk education, and victim assistance. Participated in counter-IED policy development process in a working group of multinational.

Washington, D.C.

Farsi / Dari language training

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Conducted non-immigrant visa interviews; served as American Citizen Services Officer; managed the military visa portfolio; teamed with the Embassy's Public Affairs Section to create a social media outreach program; represented the Consular section on outreach trips in Riyadh and Al Jouf region of Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

• Provided interagency policy coordination and advisory services to a Middle Eastern government client.
• Drafted policy implementation plans in support of the client's master development strategy.
• Directed the creation of the client organization's Public Affairs Strategy: advised the client organization on establishing a staffing structure and public affairs strategy; created an interagency public affairs.
• Prepared and delivered presentations and policy memos to the client organization based on the above recommendations.
• Supported the client organization’s efforts to communication with the media, military services, government agencies, and the general public.
• Represented the client organization at interagency meetings and assisted with interagency policy coordination.

West Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel

Supervised a three-person team; managed country programming for IRI Palestinian programming in the West Bank and Gaza focused on promoting civil society, leadership development, and citizen-centered governance. Executed core office functions: contract bidding, grant renewals, budgeting, financial and programmatic oversight.

Washington D.C.

• Managed a press portfolio on Iraq and broader Middle Eastern affairs.
• Facilitated interviews and media events between Arab media and senior level State Department principals.
• Supervisor of four Media Specialists and two interns.
• Engaged youth in the Middle East through “bloggers,” web-chats, telephone conferences and Digital Video Conferences, to promote tolerance and combat misinformation in the region.
• Traveled to Erbil, Iraq, to provide media support for a Iraqi performing arts academy organized by Embassy Baghdad.
• Lectured Middle-East-bound officers at the Foreign Service Institute, on the influence of new technology in the region.

Baghdad, Iraq

• Managed the Embassy’s Speakers Program – facilitated U.S. experts to travel and meet with influential Iraqis in Iraq.
• Facilitated media operations for the trial of Saddam Hussein: organized a media tour of villages attacked by chemical weapons, handled media logistics at the Iraqi High Tribunal, arranged radio interviews.
• Facilitated media tours in Iraq to highlight the Oct. 05’ constitutional referendum and the Dec. 05’ Parliamentary election.
• Served as backup to the IRMO Senior Consultant to the Iraqi Ministries of Education Higher Education and Culture; provided consultation and logistical support to the ministries.
• Supervised a 9-person Iraqi staff in the Cultural Affairs Office during the summer of 2005.
• Managed a press portfolio on Kurdish issues, Iraqi Education, Higher Education, Culture, Youth and Sports.

Washington, D.C.

State Department contractor; Bureau of Consular Affairs. Vetted Security Advisory Opinions (SAOs) for U.S. visa applicants. Coordinated information among government agencies and issued advisory opinions for applicants posing a risk of transferring harmful technology through the United States.

Washington, D.C.

Organized conferences, attended recruiting meetings for G8 Global Partnership (G8GP) countries, conducted research on the G8GP and nonproliferation in democratizing countries, prepared reporting cables, helped design the US GP web page.

Brussels, Belgium

Traveled to Bulgaria to represent NATO at a conference, organized and hosted meetings for visiting university groups, independent experts and policy-makers, responded to queries and composed press reports, researched East-European integration issues. Traveled through the Balkans for field research on NATO expansion in the region.

Master, Public Policy, International Security Policy

Bachelors, International Relations, 3.9 - High Honors