A career in security policy - advice needed

[Schmedlap]

...I worry that studying a JD would prepare me to be a lawyer rather than a policy practitioner and as an international student funding is also a big issue...

In a US law school, that is not the case. Law school can prepare you to be a lawyer, if that is what you want. The first year of classes are dictated, but after that you can structure the education as you see fit, usually with very few requirements. Many go to law school to be lawyers, but some go just because they want to go into politics or complement their business knowledge or some other unrelated reason. Also, many schools want international students because it helps them to boost their rankings with US News and other ranking lists. There might be some financial assistance available in that regard.

[jmm99]

this ...

I know that I want to eventually live and work in the USA in a policy career ....

which is not a criticism - it's just that there are a lot of policy careers.

One thing you have probably considered (I hope) is US citizenship. Some doors are closed without it (e.g., military officer and many equivalent agency officers).

My standard advice is a PhD (in a field that you really like and will spend the rest of your life in) or a JD (rather general purpose, as Schmedlap says).

My own school (and any top tier US law school) will have more than adequate course fare for someone interested in I Law and Comp Law. E.g., Center for International and Comparative Law. That can be expanded into a Dual Degree Program.

When I did it (40+ years ago), I went through three years of law school without a break. The first summer was spent on required courses, to allow a semester of optional and grad level I Law courses. The second summer (and a lot of my last 1-1/2 years at school) was devoted to ghost-writing appellate briefs - one to the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS, as is its want, declined to hear the case ). For someone not intending to be a lawyer (i.e., "barrister", which was my want), the "vacation time" could be spent on something else.

So, if you do not have some definite field in mind, you should give consideration to a top tier JD, with possible inclusion of a dual degree program.

Now, having done my good deed for the day (realizing that no good deed goes unpunished), I shall return to sipping my shot of $200/bottle Irish booze (which my wife declares is "yucky stuff"). It's my birthday; and judging from the level in the bottle (and at one shot per year), I will have at least a decade more of bothering one and all here at SWC.

Bonne Chance in your future efforts,

Mike