What kind of cia agents are there

This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. With all of the intelligence policy debates of the last few years, people sometimes forget the CIA has a kinetic, operational role in dangerous places throughout the world.

For what it looks like, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to a retired, year veteran of those foreign assignments, Marc Polymeropoulos. Insight by Galvanize: Federal News Network surveyed six agencies about their approach to risk management, including the use of cloud services, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and other technologies.

Tom Temin: Just briefly review your career. Marc Polymeropoulos: First and foremost, I had a 26 year career that was not really remarkable in the sense a lot of people do this. There are many heroes behind the scenes at CIA. So I was one of many. But sure, I spent 26 years, a lot of time in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, other times overseas service, and then back at our headquarters as well in McLean, Virginia.

Tom Temin: And when one is overseas for an extended period, I guess it may be a year or two, would that be fair to say? Marc Polymeropoulos: Yeah, sure. So it all just depends. Marc Polymeropoulos: Sure. One of misnomers about CIA is that we actually do carry guns and are dressed in 5. Read more: Workforce. Tom Temin: And when you are in the field in whatever role, what is it that headquarters can best do in terms of support?

And then they put together what is most required, which is papers or briefings for policymakers. And when the intelligence community is really humming, our true role is a support to policy. Tom Temin: And having been there 26 years, that was probably four, perhaps five administrations that you served under, and they always have politics going back and forth with the intelligence community and the CIA. Did it seem at the level you operate it at that that was pretty much kept apart from the people doing the work day to day and year after year?

Marc Polymeropoulos: Absolutely. But when I do speak, one of the things I talk about is that we really are an apolitical organization. So I served for different administrations. I think this most recent administration, with a president who was very active on Twitter, certainly made things more interesting.

But really one of the the great hallmarks of the CIA and the intelligence community in general is that people just put their heads down and get the business of intelligence, and you really try to push any kind of politics aside.

Marc Polymeropoulos: First and foremost, I think nor new DNI, Avril Haines, who is a veteran of the national security apparatus, of course former deputy director, but also a lot of time at the NSC and state. This is a fantastic choice because she really knows how to integrate intelligence into policy. She knows our foreign partners very well. So I think that she will be a great success. He was an ambassador in two major posts in the past in Moscow and Amman, so he knows about what intelligence collection really means.

And of course, he served in policy roles back in Washington, so he knows how intelligence can help shape and formulate policy. Tom Temin: And you were also a victim of the magnetic radio waves beaming that affected CIA and State Department employees in and , causing brain damage. Sign up for our daily newsletters so you never miss a beat on all things federal. Marc Polymeropoulos: So this is the hardest thing for me really to talk about.

If the agency isn't interested, it's not an oversight. You've been rejected. If you feel slighted by this, you can apply again after one year. What the CIA won't do is surprise you at a party or a bar to recruit you and start training.

Anyone who approaches you in a public place and says they're a CIA agent and has a job for you is probably a liar CIA personnel don't call themselves "agents". Unlike other jobs, the application process for the CIA could take a year or more, which includes a live interview. You know, like a regular job. But unlike regular jobs, you will then undergo aptitude and personality tests. Those who go the Directorate of Operations route -- what used to be called the clandestine service -- have an entirely different set of circumstances to work under.

Training provides you with the skills needed to live and work under cover, but only you can decide if hiding the truth from others including many family members, friends, and close acquaintances is a commitment you can accept.

Be advised that most CIA careers are not clandestine, not fieldwork and do not look cool even with a Dust Brothers soundtrack.

Successful applicants might find themselves working inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility SCIF -- essentially a secret vault of classified documents -- for eight hours a day, instead of scoping out Eastern Europeans from a cafe in Prague, like they always imagined.

He writes that he spent a lot of time doing things most people do at other agencies and companies, including managing schedules, editing reports and coordinating other offices. This feeling, of course, also leads to a stressful work environment, knowing what might be at stake if you happened to go home early one day. He can also be found on Twitter blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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