The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

Mary Ann Singlaub at a Society for International Affairs holiday party at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2015. SIA is the premier U.S. association for training in export and import licensing, one of the skills Singlaub developed as a defense contractor after leaving the Foreign Service in 1999. the Foreign Service journal | may 2016 55 able to take advantage of my political-military experience and Top Secret security clearance to embark on a second career as a Department of Defense contrac- tor. Between contracts providing international security and policy support to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, and the Navy and Army, I used the net- working skills I had developed all my life to find my next contract. Networking is crucial in the Foreign Service and also in the defense contracting arena. I would encourage anyone in COURTESYOFMARYANNSINGLAUB