navy to cia

[Jay9]

I'm a college junior seriously considering enlisting with the navy. I also have future goals of becoming an operative with the CIA. Has any1 heard of this transfer from the Navy to the CIA before. Does the cia look better upon navy sailors than other prior careers?

-jay

[mjcek]

I'm sure they would if you were a SEAL or something along those lines, but if you were just a regular sailor I doubt it'd help all that much...If I were you I'd focus on learning another language (or two), and getting an advanced degree in int'l relations/security studies, etc if you can...And your college GPA better be AT LEAST a 3.0...

[john2190]

Also, I think to be an "operative" you have to be from a different country so you can spy on it without suspicion.

[mjcek]

Also, I think to be an "operative" you have to be from a different country so you can spy on it without suspicion.

not true...there are other ways of "blending in" such as having the cover of an embassy worker, business man, etc...granted you wont be infiltrating an AL-Qaeda cell if you're a blonde haired blue eyed white american, but theres plenty of things for people of all nationalities to do...

[Metallic4]

http://cia.gov/employment/jobs/operations_off.html
I think that it is a rumor that you must be a native of another country.
Also, I'm not very qualified to speak on this subject, but I can tell you that it is fairly common knowledge that alot of the operatives are former SF or SEAL high speed military types, and also I would venture to guess that almost all of operatives are fluent in a foreign language.

[Jay9]

I'm on my way to getting my degree in Political Science in International Relations in 2 years. i plan on learning farsi on my own time by the time i graduate. i am planning on doing an internship next summer with the Science Applications International Corporation next summer. They are an agency in wash. dc that works with the CIA and different government agencies. upon graduation i plan to enlist with the navy unless better opportunities arise before the time comes. I'm not sure wut i plan doing in the navy yet i'll figure that out down the line. i'd like to try for seals, i'm not sure if i'll succeed since the dropout rate is intimidatingly steep

[Ronin]

Lot of confusion about who does what in the CIA. Operations Officers are the bread and butter of the CIA world as far as this conversation is concerned. They, however, are not typically the guys who are going undercover to spy. They may be assigned to an embassy or to a foreign office of some major US company, and work "undercover" in that capacity. It is the locals of a given location that actually DO the spying. Ops officers recruit them and manage them.

[tunlrat]

Blue eyed- blond hair? Didn't you guys watch "The Grid" on TNT? They had a caucasian character who played a 2nd generation Chechen who was an Al-Qaeda sleeper operative (alright, I think I watch too much tv).

Have you ever considered a co-op or internship with the CIA? I applied for it in my college days, but never got so much as a "thanks but no thanks" letter. You might have better luck. Since you're getting a degree, try to come in as an officer. You'll get paid more & have more responsibilities which will look good on your resume. If you get a chance & deploy overses, that will also help you because technically you'll be living & working in a foreign country--which a lot of Federal agencies love to look for in applicants. And most definitely, learn a non-romance language. :cool:

Just my $0.02

[SnowLeopard]

A and B and C:

A: One of my profs in college was ex Navy as a radioman or similar and ex NSA.

B: There are probably some ratings in the Navy which are more highly regarded by the agencies than others. Ie, those in operations, some weapons, over those in engineering or deck, such as radioman, operational specialist, electronic warfare, CT (crypto), fire control, the ASW specialities and such.

C: Okay, it comes down here to what do we define as an operative? Someone like 007 (I mean, he was recruited out of the Royal Navy) or perhaps someone like Jacques Cousteau (he was a spy during WWII) of the French Navy? Upfront and glamourous though we don't know what Cousteau did, only that he was a spy. OR, when we say operative, are we speaking of someone who gathers data such as Walker or Philby, two people who did a lot of work, a lot of damage, but at least in Walker's case, used rather simple methods and in Philby's case, weren't ranked that high by the group that employed them. OR, when we say operative, are we speaking of someone like a coastwatcher who because of their particular skill in a particular location is invaluable in delivering certain data......but would probably be useless in another area. That is, do we consider one of the many specialized groups that was aboard the Glomar Explorer when it lifted the Golf sub off the ocean floor an operative?

One might and if so, then there are various skills in the Navy that might be of value to the various agencies.

However we see it, one thing is there that is of interest to such groups: if one was in a rating where they left the Navy with a security clearance, the higher the better, that certainly has value on the application. Why? Among other things, it means that they don't have to pay the bucks to have the background check done on a perishable commodity.
-----------------------------------------------------
(Injured tourist trying to tell the French police he needs a doctor. Misses the line in the translation guide and instead says, "Je suis l'espion."
"L'ESPION!?!?!" and immediately arrest him., (w,stte), Visa commerical)

[tunlrat]

If one already has an updated & current security clearance whether civilan or military, that is a big plus because that shows that person is trustworthy in the eyes of Uncle Sam. However, not all agencies will take another agency's word for it & will end up doing ANOTHER (needless--in my opinion) BI on you. I guess it also depends on high your current clearance is too. Clearances definitely get your foot in the door though.