Originally Posted by Unregistered

Policy divisions in CS/PS tend to have high visibility and decent exposure, and those in such roles tend to be more mobile across divisions in the same agency or CS/PS in general. Options are either to rise in rank in the same agency, or to move to other agencies to become more adept at policy formulation from a Whole of Government (WOG) perspective.

As many others may have already mentioned, Policy divisions in general have a good concentration of scholars and intelligent folks in general. AOs who are on rotation tend to be placed in such divisions. AOs and scholars aside, agencies do try their best to retain other competent individuals in such roles. Such roles require a good deal of brainpower (e.g. think far enough ahead), due diligence (e.g. consider a scenario from all perspectives), attitude (e.g. be prepared to stand corrected), writing skills (i.e. need to be able to articulate a position clearly and concisely) as well as decent presentation skills.