The school was established in 1943 by Paul Nitze and Christian Herter who were seeking new methods of preparing men and women to cope with the international responsibilities that would be thrust upon the United States in the post-World War II world.

[2] The school's DC campus is located in the 420,000-square-foot 555 Pennsylvania Avenue building, which was purchased by the university in 2019 and has undergone extensive renovation.

The natural choice for the location of the school was Washington, D.C., a city where international resources are abundant and where American foreign policy is shaped and set in motion.

[8] The school offers multidisciplinary instruction leading to the degrees of Master of Arts for early and mid-career professionals, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy program.

[10] The oral examination and international economics requirements of the Master of Arts curriculum have been the signature aspects of the school's education.

A study conducted in 2005 examined graduate international relations programs throughout the United States, interviewing over a thousand professionals in the field, with the results subsequently published in Foreign Policy magazine as "Inside the Ivory Tower" rankings.

The latest edition of the study was produced in 2014, with the master's program at SAIS ranking second globally after the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

SAIS students have successfully competed in the Sustainable Innovation Summit Challenge hosted by Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Many influential political scientists are also affiliated with the school, including Pulitzer-prize winning historian Anne Applebaum, United States Institute of Peace Board Member Eric Edelman, member of the International Board of Advisors at Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Vali R. Nasr, former Counselor of the United States Department of State Eliot Cohen, former Chair in Southeast Asian Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Vikram Nehru, former Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee Obiora Okafor, and former MIT Frank Stanton Chair in Nuclear Security Policy Studies Francis J. Gavin.

These specific themes provided opportunities for the school to review scholarship and exchange views through special lectures, conferences, and guest speakers.

[18] The drafting process included six expert group meetings, held in Singapore, Egypt, Costa Rica, Spain, Turkey, and the U.S.[17] The final version of the Child Protection Model Law was published in January 2013.