Joining the Agency
Since the intelligence business is so unique, many people
think that CIA employees spend their entire lives preparing to work at the
Agency. Not me! I focused my studies on domestic politics and
planned to work as a US
policy maker, not as a foreign intelligence analyst. And I’m not alone. I’ve
been surprised to find how many officers did not expect to end up in the CIA.
I learned about the CIA at a career fair on my college
campus. The meeting was not clandestine,
and it would ruin any movie about CIA recruitment. But it was eye opening. And after
speaking for some time with a senior officer in the Directorate of
Intelligence, I realized that the CIA would be a great place to utilize my
talents and help my country.
Before joining the CIA, I had no idea how many interesting places
I’d find myself working and how much I’d interact with the policy community.
CIA Headquarters
Awaits
Arriving at Headquarters for the first time, I thought I knew
what type of workplace to expect.
I’ve seen the seal on the news, the Internet, and in plenty
of movies. I had seen presidents delivering speeches at the grand seal at CIA’s
main entrance. Ultimately, the grand entrance met all my expectations. A magnificent workspace awaited.
In my first few months at the Agency, I was surprised how
wrong my other expectations were. Headquarters didn’t feel like an intelligence
agency; it felt like a college campus. Officers didn’t walk around in black suits; they dressed somewhat
casual, many even wearing jeans on casual Fridays. Ultimately, I preferred the
real Headquarters to the Headquarters I expected.
Rotation Opens Even
More Doors … This Time at the White House
As if Langley
wasn’t enough, I found myself in another amazing workspace much sooner than I
expected – the White House.
Everyone in the Directorate of Intelligence does a two-month
rotation during their first year to learn more about the intelligence
profession. It’s part of the Career
Analyst Program. In my case, I
learned how policy makers use CIA’s intelligence products to develop better
policies.
I worked with the White House Executive Office of the
President. Although I worked outside the
White House complex, after only a few days I found myself on the White House
lawn watching the President’s helicopter land. This was my first time at the White House, and the President was waving
at me and about 20 others who attended. A
few weeks later, I took my family on a tour of the West Wing. Before joining the Agency, I never would have
imagined these White House experiences.
During my time at the CIA, I have also worked with many counterparts
downtown. Some have been from the Department
of State, Department of Defense, National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA), and Agency for International Development (USAID). I even wrote a paper for a congressional
committee.
It’s The Best of Both
Worlds
Before joining the Agency, I never thought I would have so
much interaction with policy makers in Washington. Not every Agency employee works so closely
with Washington
policy makers, but the option exists. This
is great for somebody like me who studied domestic politics and never expected
to work with foreign intelligence. At
CIA, we get the best of both worlds!