I'm not in/from the US either, but almost every country has an institute dedicated to research in climate, space, defense or avionics. It's not a bad idea to a

I'm not in/from the US either, but almost every country has an institute dedicated to research in climate, space, defense or avionics. It's not a bad idea to apply as a sysadmin if you can't get anything else. It'll get a foot in the door, and you'll learn how the organization is set up, what its daughter/sister organizations are, etc.