CIA Internships for college students

[Bill Dufour]

Interesting to see that the US spy agency has a college internship program to pay recruits to go to college. You do not have to be a citizen or speak a language. Go to college in the fall and work in Wshington. Dc in summers. Funny to see how open and above board the site is. I tried and could not find similar info about the FBI or NSA.
Bill D.
https://www.cia.gov/careers/student-opportunities/undergraduate-internships.html

[Jim Becker]

I know a college student in Florida that's been in an FBI program, but it was not like an internship. It did cement her interest in joining the agency after graduation in a few years.

[Bill Dufour]

The CIA internship pays like $30,000 Plus what they earn in two month in summer, I think. You do not have to know the secret handshake to get in either.
BIll D

[Jim Koepke]

The CIA internship pays like $30,000 Plus what they earn in two month in summer, I think. You do not have to know the secret handshake to get in either.
BIll D

People would be surprised to know that much of the actual work in the CIA is research and connecting the dots.

jtk

[Thomas McCurnin]

After the war, I applied for and was accepted at the agency and was asked in a written questionnaire whether I had ever done any illegal drugs. I asked one of my friends that worked there, who did as many drugs as I did in Nam, and he said there were two types of CIA agents--Geeks and Liars. I declined to perjure myself and passed on the job. It doesn't pay much by the way.

[Jim Becker]

People would be surprised to know that much of the actual work in the CIA is research and connecting the dots.

jtk

THis is very true. They are looking for all kinds of skill sets that benefit parsing huge and dynamic data sets and most of their human resources are "regular folks" who just happen to be very smart in ways that benefit real world analysis.

As an aside, both of Professor Dr. SWMBO's parents worked for the agency. Her dad was in SE Asia side by side with military folks well before the Viet Nam conflict ramped up and her mom was an analyst of some kind. They actually lived in Thailand for a while...the whole family. We have some interesting photos from that time as well as a copy of a signed photo of Kennedy with a personal thank you to her father for his efforts.

[Bill Dufour]

When I looked into it a few years ago their big want was computer programmers and book keepers. I bet they have some woodworkers who make wooden guns and such. I remember the soviet killer umbrella. Someone had to design and make that.
Bil lD

[Lee DeRaud]

The CIA internship pays like $30,000 Plus what they earn in two month in summer, I think. You do not have to know the secret handshake to get in either.
BIll DWow, no such thing back in the day.

I interviewed with them in late 1973 when I was in grad school (math/CS). Problem was, I was graduating in 3 months and they couldn't actually offer me a job until I had a security clearance. "No problem, just go ahead and apply, they usually go through within a year..." Um, no thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Wow, no such thing back in the day.

I interviewed with them in late 1973 when I was in grad school (math/CS). Problem was, I was graduating in 3 months and they couldn't actually offer me a job until I had a security clearance. "No problem, just go ahead and apply, they usually go through within a year..." Um, no thanks.

Yea, even today, clearances take a bit of time because they require actual personal interviews with a whole bunch of folks. The background check via records is easier now, but the feet on the street part remains the bottleneck. I think the one I had for work took something like 4-5 months start to finish and that was about 12 years ago.

[Bill Dufour]

When my mom got her security clearance in WW2 she heard about it. The FBI sent two guys to her little town. They asked the neighbors, school principal and minister about her. They refused to say why or who they worked for. Kind of obvious only guys in town i wearing suits and a government car to boot. She heard about it before she was cleared and she was not allowed to tell people in California that she was in Tennessee. All her mail had to go through UC Berkeley. That included friends she saw working in Tennessee had to be mailed through California to get in touch and meet in real life.
Bil lD.

PS: Her home town is down to 106 population now. It was probably 4-500 hundred back then.

[Lee DeRaud]

Yea, even today, clearances take a bit of time because they require actual personal interviews with a whole bunch of folks. The background check via records is easier now, but the feet on the street part remains the bottleneck. I think the one I had for work took something like 4-5 months start to finish and that was about 12 years ago.And not all clearances are created equal.

DOD clearances for defense contractors used to run about 1/3/6 months for Confidential/Secret/Top-Secret: that was in the '70s. I know new TS clearances took more like 8-10 months after 9/11: that was actually a benefit late in my career, as the lack of one kept me off a project I had absolutely zero interest in working on. :)

[Jim Becker]

Mine was for DoD and "agencies with no names"... ;) ... and was after 9/11.

[Jim Koepke]

The mention of security clearances brings back a memory and a chuckle.

One day at work in a print shop my manager came in and told me he would take over my press while the two guys in suits talked to me.

A friend of mine needed to go through a security check to work at Los Alamos.

Hearing a couple guys in suits wanted to talk to me did cause a little unease.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

Knowing someone who is employed as such (CIA Investigator is his preferred label), I can relay that although he likes to pretend that it is like it is on TV when the chicks are around, he readily confesses when alone that there is an amazing amount of scut work. Anyone who knows a police detective can probably sound similar findings; what happens in an hour on TV takes months or years in the real world. I appreciate those who pursue the law enforcement path. They don't get paid enough.

[Steve Wurster]

Interesting to see that the US spy agency has a college internship program to pay recruits to go to college. You do not have to be a citizen or speak a language. Go to college in the fall and work in Wshington. Dc in summers. Funny to see how open and above board the site is. I tried and could not find similar info about the FBI or NSA.
Bill D.
https://www.cia.gov/careers/student-opportunities/undergraduate-internships.html

The NSA certainly used to have internships / co-op students. I interviewed there during my sophomore year in college in 1994, and they came out during summer that year to interview various people I knew. I did not end up working there for any of my co-ops because my grades slipped below their threshold the following year (bad school year for me!). However, two of my classmates did all 3 of their co-ops with the NSA, but neither of them returned to work there post-graduation.

I worked for a defense contractor during my final co-op (and for the first 8 years of my post-college career). My clearance at the time only took only about a month, I believe. It probably helped that the NSA did a full check on me just 2 years prior, although the person that first handled my paperwork at the defense contractor didn't know who they were and asked, "Do they work with the Department of Defense?" I replied that they were part of the DoD...

[Kev Williams]

Quite a few years ago a guy who happened to be an FBI agent came in to have something engraved. He picked up his job a couple days later and left. Awhile later I noticed he'd left his "FBI Employee Handbook" on the table. Wasn't very big, 4x6 maybe. Out of curiosity I read thru it. What I found interesting about it was how plain it was, wasn't much different than reading thru the "Denny's Restaurant Employee Handbook" I had to read when I was in high school. No visions of Efram Zimbalist Jr. - In Color - chasing bad guys popped into my head ;) Was a rather boring read.

For all I know the thing is still here someplace :)

[Mel Fulks]

Kev, sounds like Denny's has a good plagiarism case against FBI !
Many years ago a friend who had been drafted went awol. Several friends were helping him with food ,info, etc. Truth is
nobody looks for them for a while. But once the FBI gets the case they find them pretty quick. Every one is told "we know
you are helping him ,it's a Fed crime that calls for 30 years". Or whatever. And FBI picks the guy up next day. Even though
J.Edger Hoover was ugly as a hippo in a cheap suit, he had standards for his team look. Wouldn't have any guys
that were not up to TV FBI standards.

[Doug Dawson]

After the war, I applied for and was accepted at the agency and was asked in a written questionnaire whether I had ever done any illegal drugs. I asked one of my friends that worked there, who did as many drugs as I did in Nam, and he said there were two types of CIA agents--Geeks and Liars. I declined to perjure myself and passed on the job. It doesn't pay much by the way.

The pay might not be top shelf, but if you get in good with civilian DoD and the like, and you have a good skill set, you are made for life.

John Brennan, ex-CIA director, in his recent autobiography, talked about applying to the CIA back in 1980, and being truthful about his past drug use. They hired him.

[Jim Becker]

The mention of security clearances brings back a memory and a chuckle.

One day at work in a print shop my manager came in and told me he would take over my press while the two guys in suits talked to me.

A friend of mine needed to go through a security check to work at Los Alamos.

Hearing a couple guys in suits wanted to talk to me did cause a little unease.

jtk

Even my kids had to be interviewed when I was going through the process...it was cursory, but they still had to have the conversation. Same for my spouse. The investigator even spoke with me privately. Every reference, both personal and professional, too. In person.

[Mike Henderson]

I had a secret clearance back in 1968 for the job I took out of college. The clearance went pretty quickly. Of course, I was young so there wasn't much to check.

Mike

[Bill McNiel]

Kev, sounds like Denny's has a good plagiarism case against FBI !
Many years ago a friend who had been drafted went awol. Several friends were helping him with food ,info, etc. Truth is
nobody looks for them for a while. But once the FBI gets the case they find them pretty quick. Every one is told "we know
you are helping him ,it's a Fed crime that calls for 30 years". Or whatever. And FBI picks the guy up next day. Even though
J.Edger Hoover was ugly as a hippo in a cheap suit, he had standards for his team look. Wouldn't have any guys
that were not up to TV FBI standards.

I believe J Edger looked better in a dress.