About Represent

There are many reasons to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in American national security. One of the reasons motivating us is that genius can be anywhere. At a time when we need every gifted mind focused on challenges like climate change and conflict, excluding talent is a national security threat. From the classroom to the boardroom, we need to invest in everyone who wants to pursue a national security career, not just those who already have the connections, privilege, and opportunity to do so.

The CSIS International Security Program (ISP) created Represent to address the intersection of national security and diversity. We seek to elevate the voices of national security professionals from underrepresented groups and call attention to the persistent gap in representation in our field. Represent is produced by the ISP staff on an ongoing basis, and runs unsolicited and invited pieces on the Defense360 website.

CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to advancing practical ideas to address the world’s greatest challenges. We welcome rigorous, constructive submissions to Represent that reflect and aim to persuade a broad range of political ideologies.

Expectations

We publish diverse voices writing on the full range of national security issues. Before submitting your piece, please look at our previous publications to get a sense of the general type of article that Represent will publish. We look for short, original articles between 800 and 1,500 words that blend personal experience with policy analysis. Articles should be written clearly, copyedited, and properly cited before submission. We prefer in-text hyperlinks but will also accept footnotes. CSIS uses the current Chicago Manual of Style format for citations.

Pitching & Submitting

We accept and publish pieces on a rolling basis. To pitch an article, please email represent@csis.org. Your pitch should include a synopsis around 250 words of your piece in the body of the email along with a short author biography. Please allow one calendar week before we notify you about your submission. If your pitch is accepted, a CSIS editor will contact you and be assigned as your liaison to assist you in the publication process. The editor will review your piece for substantive and copy edits. Please submit drafts in Microsoft Word and use the track changes function throughout the editing process. We look forward to working with you.

TAGS: Pitches, Submissions