IC Careers | CINSER | Chicago State University

IC CAE

There are many career options available in the intelligence community (IC).

What is intelligence?

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence defines intelligence in the following way:

"Intelligence is information gathered within or outside the U.S. that involves threats to our nation, its people, property, or interests; development, proliferation, or use of weapons of mass destruction; and any other matter bearing on the U.S. national or homeland security. Intelligence can provide insights not available elsewhere that warn of potential threats and opportunities, assess probable outcomes of proposed policy options, provide leadership profiles on foreign officials, and inform official travelers of counterintelligence and security threats."

According to the 2023 National Intelligence Strategy, the mission of the IC is as follows:

"The U.S. Intelligence Community provides timely, rigorous, apolitical, and insightful intelligence and support to inform national security decisions and protect our Nation and its interests."

The intelligence community is always seeking new talent and hires its workforce from many different fields of study including psychology, criminal justice, foreign language, IT, nursing, chemistry, english, pharmacy, engineering, geography, art, education, business and many other fields.

Intelligence Agencies

Intelligence for national security is carried out through the activities conducted by 18 different agencies:

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
National Security Agency (NSA)
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Army Intelligence
Navy Intelligence
Marine Corps Intelligence
Air Force Intelligence
Space Force Intelligence
Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence (OICI)
Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A)
U.S. Coast Guard Intelligence
Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of National Security Intelligence (ONSI)
Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)
Department of the Treasury’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA)

While the IC hires from talent pools in many disciplines there are two areas of critical need - critical foreign languages and critical technologies.

Critical Foreign Languages

The intelligence community is always seeking to employ individuals who speak critical foreign languages. Some of the critical foreign languages include: Akan/Twi, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Belarusian, Bengali, Cantonese, Croatian, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Malay, Mandarin, Nepali, Persian, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Sinhala, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Ukrainian, Wolof, Yoruba, Zulu and many more (a more comprehensive list is here).

You can perform a self-assessment of your foreign language proficiency using an assessment tool here.

For more opportunities to develop skill in a foreign language, consider applying for a Boren Fellowship Award.

Critical and Emerging Technologies

The intelligence community has an acute need for individuals with expertise in critical and emerging technologies. The National Science and Technology Council has identified the following critical and emerging technologies: