The Ultimate International Career
The CIA's Clandestine Service is the front-line
source of clandestine information on critical international developments, from
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction to military and political issues. The
mission often requires clandestine service officers to live and work overseas,
making a true commitment to the Agency. This is more than just a job – it's a
way of life that challenges the deepest resources of personal intelligence,
self-reliance and responsibility. National Clandestine Service Officers
are individuals with varied backgrounds and life experiences, professional and
educational histories, language capabilities, and other elements that allow us
meet our mission critical objectives.
View our available Clandestine Service positions on the Clandestine Service page.
National Clandestine Services Officers are grouped
into the following categories of expertise:
FIELD-BASED POSITIONS
Operations Officer
Operations Officers serve on the front lines of
the human intelligence collection business by clandestinely recruiting and
handling sources of foreign intelligence. It takes special skills and
professional discipline to establish strong human relationships that result in
high-value intelligence from clandestine sources. An Operations Officer must be
able to deal with fast-moving, ambiguous and unstructured situations. This
requires physical and psychological health, energy, intuition, “street sense”
and the ability to cope with stress. Operations Officers serve the bulk of
their time in overseas assignments.
Collection Management Officer
As the link between the Clandestine Service
Operations Officer in the field, the US foreign policy community and
Intelligence Community analysts, it is the responsibility of the Collection
Management Officer (CMO) to manage the collection, evaluation and dissemination
of CIA intelligence information. Managing the collection effort requires
determining what US policymakers need to know and then communicating those
requirements to the Operations Officer. To be effective, the CMO must
understand Clandestine Service operations and how they are conducted abroad, as
well as international issues and overseas operating environments.
HEADQUARTERS-BASED POSITIONS (WASHINGTON, DC)
With the exception of the NCS Language Officer and
Operations Officer — Specialized Skills Officer positions, NCS is currently not
recruiting Headquarters Based Officers (HBO). The remaining HBO positions
fall within the following three career tracks: Staff Operations Officer
(SOO), Collection Management Officer-Headquarters Specialist (CMO-S), and
Operational Targeting Officer. When available, placement into one of the three
aforementioned HBO tracks will be determined upon successful completion of
training.
Staff Operations Officer
The Staff Operations Officer guides, coordinates
and supports overseas intelligence collection. These officers develop a cadre
of resources throughout the Agency that allows them to provide the field with
thoughtful and useful guidance to keep clandestine operations in the field
running safely and smoothly. They develop substantive expertise on their
assigned area, such as terrorism, proliferation, narcotics trafficking and
political issues in order to enhance their interaction with field-based
officers and provide advice and counsel. Working closely with Operations
Officers overseas, they provide oral and written briefings to senior management
at Headquarters on operational cases and individual agents. Opportunities for
foreign travel exist.
Collection Management Officer — Headquarters Specialist
This Officer has extensive interaction with US
intelligence customers, such as personnel from the Departments of State,
Treasury and Energy, the Defense Intelligence Agency and military commands, the
FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The CMO-S is tasked with
turning US agencies’ national security concerns into specific questions for
Clandestine Service operations. To be effective, the CMO-S must
understand operations and how they are conducted abroad, as well as maintain
substantive knowledge about the countries and issues against which the CIA is
collecting information. Opportunities for tours and/or short assignments
domestically and overseas exist.
Operational Targeting Officer
In today’s fast-paced and technologically savvy
world, targeting is critical to the success of the Clandestine Service’s global
mission. Operational Targeting Officers directly support, drive and/or manage
complex worldwide operations to develop actionable intelligence against the
highest priority threats to US
national security. They apply specialized skills to identify, analyze and
facilitate the penetration and disruption of international organizations and
networks posing such threats. Targeting Officers also develop a substantive
knowledge in one or several functional Clandestine Service missions —
terrorism, proliferation, narcotics trafficking and/or counterintelligence — as
well as regional expertise. Effective Targeting Officers are inquisitive,
analytical, detail- and action-oriented, and capable of mining vast amounts of
data for new leads. Opportunities for foreign travel and tours of duty exist.
Operations Officer—Specialized Skills Officer
Specialized Skills Officers focus on intelligence
operations for US policymakers in hazardous and austere overseas environments.
Military special operations or combat arms experience (ground, air, or
maritime), previous foreign travel, combat service and foreign language
proficiency are highly valued.
Language Officer
The Language Officer applies advanced foreign
language skills, experience and expertise to provide high-quality translation,
interpretation and language-related support for a variety of Clandestine
Service operations. In addition to their expert language skills, Language
Officers provide in-depth cultural insight — an important dimension of the job.
They also work closely with officers in other Clandestine Service disciplines —
particularly field collectors — to support the overall mission of intelligence
acquisition. As with other Clandestine Service professions, foreign travel
opportunities and certain specialized training are integral elements of the
job.
The Clandestine Life
Operations Officers and Collection Management
Officers spend a significant portion of their time abroad. Typically,
Operations Officers will serve 60% to 70% of their careers overseas, while
Collection Management Officers will be overseas for 30% to 40% of their
careers. Staff Operations Officers, although based in the Washington, D.C.
area, travel overseas on a temporary basis. Language Officers also are
primarily based in Washington,
though short-term and some long-term foreign travel opportunities are
available.
Officers in each of these careers are under
cover. By the very nature of this clandestine business, officers can expect
limited external recognition for themselves and their families. Instead, the
Agency has its own internal promotions, awards and medals, and makes every
effort to recognize the accomplishments of its personnel.
In addition to competitive pay, Officers
are provided housing and receive overseas allowances and schooling benefits for
their children when serving abroad. There are also other benefits, such
as language pay incentives, that Officers can receive depending on their skills
set and position duties. Collectively, the benefits enable Officers to
make significant contributions that impact our national security, and
experience a high level of job satisfaction and camaraderie throughout their
career.
Is This the Job for You?
Traditionally, we have had an officer corps of
considerable diversity in terms of politics, talent, personality, temperament
and background. That said, there are some fundamental qualities common to most
successful officers, including a strong record of academic and professional
achievement, good writing skills, problem-solving abilities and highly
developed interpersonal skills. Overseas experience and languages are important
factors as well. Officers must be perennial students, in the sense that they
are required to seek answers, learn other languages and study other cultures to
enhance their abilities to deal effectively with foreign cultures and
societies.
Getting Started: Clandestine
Service Trainee (CST) Program
This is the launching pad for challenging
positions in the National Clandestine Service, providing new officers an
opportunity to follow in the footsteps of today's senior NCS managers. Uniquely
qualified trainees are groomed in an intensive year-long training program to prepare
them for the foreign-intelligence-collection challenges facing the US today.
The National Clandestine Service has a second
program, the Professional Trainee (PT) Program, for recent college graduates,
after which PTs may be considered for the CST Program.