Careers in the Intelligence Community

How to get involved in the nation’s intelligence network

The United States Intelligence Community is a federation of intelligence organizations that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities for the nation. That’s an important task, and we in the ODNI know that we can’t do it without the agents. Today, I’m going to tell you how you can become an important part of our nation’s intelligence gathering and analyzing organizations.

The goal of the United States Intelligence Community is to organize intelligence organizations so that they function as one body instead of several. Each agency has a specific task, i.e. the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) focuses on foreign intelligence. The first thing you need to do is determine the kind of job that you want.

Intelligence at its core

Intelligence is a dangerous, complicated and sometimes overwhelming field to work in. Exactly what the work we do entails will remain confidential until you’re an agent of ours, but know that you’ll be exposed to dangerous and delicate situations that require patience, dedication, and time. Whether you’re gathering or analyzing, intelligence often shapes how the United States deals with other nations and how we handle gangs and criminal organizations.

Both the President and Congress depend on the Intelligence Community to provide them with timely, insightful intelligence to ensure that they make informed decisions. The things that the IC predicts can sometimes mean the difference between war and peace.

What we offer

Jobs in the IC are difficult but rewarding. Some of you partake in the gathering of crucial intelligence, while others are responsible for telling us what it means.

The life cycle of intelligence:

• President or DNI determines that gathering of intelligence is necessary in a given area
• Agency directors assign operatives to set out to accomplish this goal
• Intelligence is brought back to the agencies, where we determine what it means
• Intelligence is distributed by the Director of National Intelligence to Congress and the President

Steps to getting a job in the IC

Watch out for application or tryout announcements

Watch the NUSA shout and other notification systems to make sure you never miss a tryout or application period for the job you want.

Get accepted during the tryout/interview or get your application accepted

The best advice in this department is a well-thought-out application or a focused and well-performed tryout or interview. Remember, in interviews, the guy sitting behind the desk is just a person. There’s no way to predict what he/she is looking for, so just be yourself.

• Answer any and all questions truthfully and to the best of your ability.
• Be sure to let the interviewer/tryout leader know if you have to go AFK. Don’t just do it without telling anyone.
• Make sure you are a registered American citizen, or your application or tryout will be automatically denied.
• Make sure that you qualify for the job you are applying for; what have you done in intelligence before?
• If you’ve never been in intelligence before, make sure you tell your interviewer/put it in your application.
• Don’t lie on your application or at an interview or tryout. Believe me, we know when you lie, we fact-check everything you tell us.

If you remember all of these things, there’s a solid chance you’ll get exactly the job you want.

Welcome to the United States Intelligence Community! We hope your experience is fulfilling.

— largeTitanic2, Director of National Intelligence