While in graduate school, Melia worked as an intern at the National Security Council at the White House, on Africa issues.

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1980 and eventually became Senior Legislative Assistant for foreign and defense policy.

From 1999 to 2000, Melia was an adjunct professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he taught graduate courses about democracy promotion.

At Georgetown, he was the principal investigator for reports on Congressional attitudes toward the State Department[1] and terrorism's impact on diplomacy; he directed the first public opinion research conducted in post-Taliban Afghanistan in 2002 and in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq in 2003.

[7] News outlets such as CNN,[8] The New York Times and The Washington Post interview Melia on democratic issues, including President Barack Obama's policy toward Russia[9] and the global downturn in political freedom.