by gg3 » Mon 21 May 2007, 09:50:50
I guess I have to be the first one to mention that going into the Catholic priesthood will mean being owned by an institution that is the world's single largest cause of overpopulation, which in turn is the root cause of ALL of our sustainability crises. You can engage your spiritual side without selling your soul to a power structure that is literally killing the planet.
On the other hand, if you have a real opportunity to go for CIA, do it. Intel analysis is one of the most interesting jobs on the planet. (Though, the entry level jobs will be somewhat tedious; just be patient, the interesting stuff will come in due course.)
If you go for Farsi etc., you might also have opportunities at NSA. Though from the sound of your posting, you seem more like you'd be into the policy-level stuff, which is CIA, whereas NSA is mostly technical.
Linguist/translators are always in high demand, and CIA is also a path to State.
One thing you need to take deadly seriously: If you plan to go for this, you have to keep your nose absolutely clean. That means no brushes with the law beyond the level of a speeding ticket, and even speeding tickets are questionable. No illegal drugs, no drinking to excess, no wild parties in college where stupid things happen, no unplanned pregnancies with questionable outcomes. No participation in campus radical groups, and frankly even hanging out here isn't such a good idea until after you've been on the job for a few years and have track record. Register "independent" instead of Democrat or Republican. Take all of your classes in college seriously, develop good working relationships with the professors, and take every single assignment as if it's part of the job interview.
Basically you have to live a life that is 100% regular & reliable, and become known as someone who can be counted on 100% to live up to his/her word.
I would suggest looking around the CIA website, they may have intern programs for undergrads. If they do, sign up and go for it. NSA and NRO have something like that, as does NGA (National Geospatial Intel Agency; formerly Defense Mapping Agency), so CIA probably has it.
If not, then look for college professors who have "State Department" or something similar on their resumes. Set up an appointment to meet with them. Tell them you're interested in a job in the State Department and that you are interested in analysis. Don't come out and say "I want to work at CIA," let them bring up their background first and ask you. Knowing how to be discrete is part of the job, so start practicing early. And as for your peers in college, you don't have to tell them where you want to work, just stick to mutual interest in the schoolwork and extracurricular activities and leave it there. Again, discretion learned early demonstrates capability to handle secrets later.
Stick to the Directorate of Intelligence; it has a company culture similar to a college campus. The Directorate of Operations is more suitable to people with military background who can handle getting shot at, and that doesn't seem like where you're at.
As for not talking to your family about your job: You will probably be allowed to say you work for the State Department, and maybe even be able to say you work for CIA, but that is all, and not one word more. Even if your spouse has a TS clearance, you will not be able to talk about work, because TS is specific to the material covered and does not grant blanket access. You work in one compartment, s/he works in a different compartment, and neither has need to know what the other is working on. Before you get married you can probably tell your prospective spouse that you will never be able to discuss work and they will have to trust you about that. Agency training covers how to handle these contingencies; take it seriously.
One of the things they'll tell you about having a clearance is, do not ever get anywhere close to discussing anything related to classified material. You'll see stuff in the news and you'll know better, and you'll be highly tempted to say "that's not half the story," but the moment you say that, comes the temptation to say just a little more and a little more, until you're skirting the edges of classified, where comes the serious risk of crossing the line and divulging secrets. See below about developing internal compartmentalization; it takes some practice but eventually you learn it and it becomes second nature.
Avoiding alcohol in excess is a good step to avoid crossing the line. One drink with a meal, that's all, no more, not ever. And no bars, no hanging out in places where someone could get you sauced and get you talking. You will be tested more than once, by friendly strangers who ask interesting questions. They work for the agency and they are just checking you out to make sure you don't blab, because the next person asking those questions could be working for the badguys and you don't want that on your conscience (much less have to face charges for it).
You'll need to develop a kind of internal compartmentalization where you leave work behind and re-join the unclassified world when you come home. You can take your analysis skills with you, but when you comment on stuff in the news, you will have to wall off all the stuff you know from work, and stick to using only the reported news plus your analytic skills. So you can say to a family member, "that politician's statement contradicts something he said two weeks ago," but you can't reference it back to something you can't discuss. In fact many people with TS clearances are quite adept at this, and after a while it becomes second nature; but at first, better to err on the side of excessive caution.
OTOH, there are social clubs at all the 3-letter agencies, so you can find peers with similar interests, and with them, you can talk more freely about work. Though if in doubt, always ask your supervisor.
Bottom line: it's more fun and more exciting than most jobs in the "normal" world. You'll be at the cutting edge of world events. You won't be able to talk about it but you will have the satisfaction of knowing you're making a difference. You'll earn a decent middle class salary and be able to live in a nice neighborhood, and half your neighbors won't be able to talk about their jobs either. Working in intel has zero resemblance to what you see in spy movies. No glamor, no sexy companions with a taste for expensive drinks, none of that nonsense. What's exciting about it is the thrill of putting the pieces together and serving our country and making a difference. If that's where your heart is at, go for it.
The cons are that essentially the government owns me.
