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Elena Schwieger

Biography

Elena and her mother came to the U.S. in 1989, following a period where her mother was persecuted at work and several friends were jailed for owning Bibles. To this day, Elena's mother says she left the Soviet Union to find freedom for her daughter.

Elena says her mother "knew that a superb education provided the kind of freedom no one could take away . . . that became our goal." Her mother worked two jobs to pay for Elena's schooling, and Elena worked to learn as much as she could and to seek a variety of challenging experiences. In high school, she took weekend classes in Russian language and literature; during the summer, she learned Japanese.

Aware that most Russian-American immigrants in Washington weren't acquiring the language skills needed to integrate, Elena helped her mother prepare English lessons for Russian students, and interpreted for Russians and volunteered at the Department of Social and Health Services to assist social workers responsible for job placement, financial assistance, and language classes for refugees. She plans to work with the Institute for the Study of International Migration to seek grant money for original field research on the impact of social integration and language acquisition on refugee and immigrant political participation so that the needs of immigrants can be better met nationwide.

Elena continued her volunteer work at Georgetown with Catholic Immigration Legal Services and as a translator and editor at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. As the public relations director for the International Relations Association, Elena brought in high-profile speakers and ran all public relations efforts for two national model U.N. conferences. She initiated a recruitment presentation series by the State Department, NSA, CIA, and DIA, titled "Why Serve a Company When You Can Serve a Nation?"

As Elena notes, fate intervened to "inaugurate" her into a special kind of service to the United States. She became a Defense Intelligence Agency intern on September 10, 2001. When it became clear that U.S. forces were to be engaged in combat in Afghanistan, Elena contributed directly to Operation Enduring Freedom by doing extensive research on the experiences of Soviet POWs in the Soviet-Afghan war.

Elena designed her own syllabi and is currently writing two theses: one on intelligence failures/homeland security and one on nationality building and economic development in Central Asia. These represent her two academic and professional interests: national security and economic development.

Elena will pursue a concentration in international economics and security at the Security Studies Program at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Afterwards, she plans to study international law and eventually return to federal service, working in the areas of national security and international trade or economic development.

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