How a PHC alumnus landed a job in the Department of Homeland Security

Three months ago, Micah Bock (SI, '20) accepted the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In addition to this successful career step, the Claremont Institute has recently announced Micah as a 2025 Lincoln Fellow.

Last year, at the Claremont’s Speechwriter Fellowship, Micah discussed complex policy arguments and was taught how to better understand the constitutional framework that underpins national discourse. He is excited to further his knowledge by attending the Lincoln Fellowship this year.

“Everything that we talked about in the Speechwriting Fellowship, and I presume everything we'll talk about in the Lincoln Fellowship, was stuff that I had already heard in my Freedom's Foundations class,” Micah said. “PHC put me in the place where I entered the room and already knew more about the material than many people.”

Micah first heard about PHC through the speech and debate world while in high school. William Bock, Micah’s older brother and former speech and debate partner,  attended PHC. Every break, William would come home and tell Micah how much he enjoyed it and that he should join him. So, Micah applied and was offered one of PHC’s debate scholarships. “I suppose the rest is history,” he said.

Micah majored in Strategic Intelligence in National Security (SI) and planned to attend law school after graduating.

Yet, God "opened a different door on a different path." Micah explained, "I found that what I expect to be the pathway isn't always the pathway that God provides. His path is always better than the one that I could have anticipated." 

When graduation came around in May 2020, so did COVID-19. The government stopped hiring, and Micah was at a loss for a job. He had to find something to do. After three months of searching, God unexpectedly led Micah to Washington, D.C., through a job opportunity in political communications.  After serving as Communications Director for a North Carolina Congressman, Micah transitioned to Communications Director for Victoria Spartz, a Congresswoman from Indiana, his home state.”

In January 2022, he stepped off the hill to start a private political communications firm.

“I described that type of work as essentially what I was doing on Capitol Hill: drafting op-eds, booking individuals on television, managing social media, crafting strategic communication plans, narratives, and things of that nature. But I'm doing that also for private individuals, in addition to the work that I've done publicly.”

In March 2023, while continuing to run his firm, he returned to the Hill, this time as Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director for U.S. Congressman Lance Gooden.

Then, in April, Micah accepted the position as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Micah does a variety of things as part of his current job. Recently, following the release of information that claimed a 90% reduction in illegal immigration, Micah, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, visited the El Paso border, which used to be a problem spot. There, they rode in ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) along the border and met with local customs, border patrol, and immigration officers from the El Paso sector.

PHC’s mission of “leading the nation and shaping the culture” has continued to impact Micah every day in the workplace.

“Patrick Henry College does a good job of teaching that we live in a fallen world. In the halls of power, that fallen nature comes to its fullest. Being so close to D.C., PHC understands that. They equip students well with the tools and the knowledge that they need to succeed,” he said.

 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.