Interest in FBI / CIA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a close friend who was a CIA agent briefly (she learned quickly that the job was not for her). She was a history major.

One of my friends in law school applied to the agency. She comes from a semi-famous family and there’s tons of info on them if you do a google search. I could see why the CIA would not want to hire someone with this profile.

FBI is in the business of law enforcement. They need to be law abiding citizens. CIA on the other hand, is beyond this level. They are the type that goes overseas to "take out" enemies. No sense in talking about law and order here.

Special forces take out enemies.

I think CIA is more likely to recruit human intelligence assets.

[Anonymous]

The skills to follow money are in demand. So experience with accounting/law/finance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a close friend who was a CIA agent briefly (she learned quickly that the job was not for her). She was a history major.

One of my friends in law school applied to the agency. She comes from a semi-famous family and there’s tons of info on them if you do a google search. I could see why the CIA would not want to hire someone with this profile.

FBI is in the business of law enforcement. They need to be law abiding citizens. CIA on the other hand, is beyond this level. They are the type that goes overseas to "take out" enemies. No sense in talking about law and order here.

Special forces take out enemies.

I think CIA is more likely to recruit human intelligence assets.

Most of the CIA is concerned with writing analysis memos that no one reads with insights that can be just as easily gleaned through reading newspapers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make sure your kid isn’t experimenting with drugs, including weed. Check out the websites. They have a lot of information on different job types. Apply for the internships they are a foot in the door.

Weed has been our biggest disqualifier.

EVER used or positive test?

If they’re interested, stop doing weed now. “Experimentation” in high school would be okay, but not if they are currently/recently using whenever they go through the process.

Experimentation in high school used to be disqualifying. I don't know if that has since been changed, but it was one of the reasons that the FBI started recruiting mormons so heavily

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make sure your kid isn’t experimenting with drugs, including weed. Check out the websites. They have a lot of information on different job types. Apply for the internships they are a foot in the door.

Weed has been our biggest disqualifier.

EVER used or positive test?

If they’re interested, stop doing weed now. “Experimentation” in high school would be okay, but not if they are currently/recently using whenever they go through the process.

If the answer isn’t “never, ever used it,” they will need to explain it. I had one kid who was clearly interested in the intel world from an early age, & I made it very clear that they could save themselves a lot of trouble by just completely avoiding weed & all other drugs. Kid followed advice & things turned out well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make sure your kid isn’t experimenting with drugs, including weed. Check out the websites. They have a lot of information on different job types. Apply for the internships they are a foot in the door.

Weed has been our biggest disqualifier.

EVER used or positive test?

If they’re interested, stop doing weed now. “Experimentation” in high school would be okay, but not if they are currently/recently using whenever they go through the process.

Experimentation in high school used to be disqualifying. I don't know if that has since been changed, but it was one of the reasons that the FBI started recruiting mormons so heavily

When a friend of mine interviewed with a three letter agency out of college, the conversation went something like this:

"Do you smoke marijuana?"

"Yes?"

"Give me a call back in a year." (Click)

There's low tolerance but there's also not a lookback as far as high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s odd you would group these together. The FBI is about policing. The CIA is intelligence gathering. CIA is not what I think about when I think of law and order.

There is significant overlap in the area of counterintelligence…thwarting the other guys’ intelligence efforts against the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked for one of the groups involved in this discussion, & guided my kid to a parallel career.

There are federal law enforcement agencies other than the FBI, & other intelligence agencies besides NSA & CIA. So do some research about the options. Some of these overlap with the military, which is one reason military personnel (current & former) are overrepresented.

The importance of having lived a fairly clean life cannot be stressed enough. If there has been drug use, criminal activity, or unusual contact with people from foreign countries, it complicates the all-important security clearance process.

They will talk to friends, neighbors, & co-workers to see if you are odd in any way. My kid did a semester abroad & they even talked to a family in that country whose children my kid gave English lessons to.

Getting treated for mental health issues doesn’t automatically disqualify people, but it’s just one more thing you will have to explain in detail & probably show documentation of. It’s pretty much the more interesting your life has been (meeting a wide variety of people, moving often, changing jobs frequently, & traveling abroad), the more complicated the security clearance process is.

This is the most accurate and helpful response on the thread. Avoid all drugs. Limit foreign contact. Maintain cordial relationships with neighbors and teachers who may be interviewed. Excel at languages if you want to go overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone recommend an accessible book or two that would help someone in their late teens / early 20s understand the modern CIA and/or NSA and the range of roles and groups within these agencies?

Not looking for a history of the CIA or NSA or a moment of time / incident in the past, but rather something more current but still broad enough to get a sense of the range of these agencies. (Obv they’re not all spies trying to recruit assets in foreign countries …. )

Fiction would work, assuming it’s not grounded in reality rather than speculative trash. Thx.

I don't know that I can. Anything written by someone that left just a few years in isn't going to tell you much, and modern is what's going on as we speak and not 5, 10, or even 1 year ago.

Start with the public websites. Then branch out into current interviews with the principal and public senior officials. That ought to tell you a lot about what priorities are and what skills are currently valued. Paul Nakasone just gave exit interviews to several news outlets.

My kid said that CIA came to their high school to talk about careers. If you're in the area ask your HS. And all of these agencies have college programs, which is probably the best way to get a foot in the door and allow you child to gauge whether it's really a career they want to pursue. If an IC career is a priority for your child then they should ask their chosen schools if the IC recruits there and how many grads go into the IC.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone recommend an accessible book or two that would help someone in their late teens / early 20s understand the modern CIA and/or NSA and the range of roles and groups within these agencies?

Not looking for a history of the CIA or NSA or a moment of time / incident in the past, but rather something more current but still broad enough to get a sense of the range of these agencies. (Obv they’re not all spies trying to recruit assets in foreign countries …. )

Fiction would work, assuming it’s not grounded in reality rather than speculative trash. Thx.

After completing my obligatory military service as an officer, I interviewed for an Operations Officer position at the CIA. They asked me to read 2 books that still sit on my shelf. Sleeping with the Devil and Inside the CIA. After reading those 2 books I changed my mind and decided it was not for me.

[Anonymous]

Best not to take the anti-CIA trolls seriously. No doubt they’re sitting unemployed in their parents’ basement with a huge chip on their shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s odd you would group these together. The FBI is about policing. The CIA is intelligence gathering. CIA is not what I think about when I think of law and order.

Have you ever heard of the FBI Joint Terrorizm Task Forces?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone recommend an accessible book or two that would help someone in their late teens / early 20s understand the modern CIA and/or NSA and the range of roles and groups within these agencies?

Not looking for a history of the CIA or NSA or a moment of time / incident in the past, but rather something more current but still broad enough to get a sense of the range of these agencies. (Obv they’re not all spies trying to recruit assets in foreign countries …. )

Fiction would work, assuming it’s not grounded in reality rather than speculative trash. Thx.

After completing my obligatory military service as an officer, I interviewed for an Operations Officer position at the CIA. They asked me to read 2 books that still sit on my shelf. Sleeping with the Devil and Inside the CIA. After reading those 2 books I changed my mind and decided it was not for me.

Add Legacy of Ashes to that list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best not to take the anti-CIA trolls seriously. No doubt they’re sitting unemployed in their parents’ basement with a huge chip on their shoulder.

I’m pretty sure the vet above who went through either ROTC or a service academy is very much more successful than PP, in addition to having done more for their country than PP could ever dream of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The service academies are not normal schools. You have to actually want the heavy military focus that comes with them: the discipline, the intensity, the pomp and circumstance. It's not needed for FBI and CIA so not sure one would go with that path unless they want the military aspect. Georgetown, George Washington and University of Maryland are all good for CIA.

Yes and no, as you're somewhat of a vetted commodity if you've been to a service academy and served for 5 years. You may also get a military hiring preference at these agencies.

Officers don't become field agents. Come on.