DEMAND FOR CIA JOBS IS NOT A WELL-KEPT SECRET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100040037-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: September 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100040037-9
ARTICLE APPEARED -' LOS ANGELES TIMES
Ca' PAP L / 8 September 1985
Jacnuiters Draw Mora Than 150,000App/ic a ear
Demand for CIA Jobs Is Not a
By DANIEL F. GILMORE,
United Press International
Well-Kept, Secret ~
Critics charged that the vague
Seleetlu `Very Careful'
''During the coming semester
:we'll be visiting schools and colleg-
WASHINGTON-On a recent
.Morning a roomful of clean-cut
young men and women waited for
hair first. interview in an elaborate
competitive job applies-
of their lives, inspects their
ahem to pass a lie-detector test.
* If successful-and few are-the
4plicants are tapped for a well-
Rsying entry-level job with a se-
Q'.t organization that promises a
"ysreer of consequence."
They were among the 150,000 to
,000 applicants'a year for jobs
with the CIA, according to Herbert
Simmons, chief of agency recruit-
ment in the Washington area.
Drive Nationwide
Many were responding to a na-
tionwide CIA advertising campaign
in leading newspapers. Others had
been approached by CIA recruiters
on college campuses.
A spokesman for the Central
Intelligence Agendy refused to say
how many people the agency hires
a year because that information
would indicate the size of its work
force. The application process is
known to be highly competitive,
because of both high academic
standards and the rigorous security
checks.
. Ten years ago, when the sins of
the CIA were being hauled before
congressional investigators, any
agency recruiters spotted would
probably have been besieged by
;student militants. Surprisingly, re-
cruiting continued briskly even
during those dark days.
Now, CIA Director William J.
Casey told a gathering of former
intelligence officers last winter,
"despite a drumbeat of media criti-
fism." the agency had more than
.150,000 applicants over the previ-
:ous year.
The CIA, whose work force at its
-headquarters in Langley, Va. and
:in the Washington area is estimat-
ed at about 25,000, is looking for the
'cream of the crop in college gradu-
ates, men or women, Simmons said.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens.
very careful in our selec-
because we're talking about a
t and unique agency," Sim-
me said.
The screening process is rigorous
Ind can be protracted.
"We're shooting for a 120-day
rage security check period," he
ssfd: and recruiter. are even ap-
junior. in college to start
41'he personal history question-
ents or experiences do not
040tonnitically rule out an applicant.
,,.Relative., friends, neighbors,
)O workers, teachers, are interro-
th records verified.
If all goes well, the applicant is
-called in for a he detector test.
The CIA does not come right out
and advertise specifically for spies.
Disciplines Number 150
"It's a big agency, and people
-don't know about the various
branches," Simmons said. "We
have 150 disciplines calling for
state of the art professionals."
The CIA has four main depart-
ments or direetorates, only one of
which is directly concerned with
"humint" or human-obtained and
'human-generated intelligence, in-
cluding covert actions. It is the
directorate of operations, also
known as the clandestine services.
This is the branch which, in
addition to carrying out espionage
and recruiting foreign agents,
would also be responsible, as the
CIA charter explains, for perform-
ing "such other functions and du-
ties related to intelligence affecting
the national security as the Nation-
al Security Council may from time
to time direct."
are formidable and zoom in
possible criminal records, drug
alcohol use-although past
wording was too loosely interpret-
ed by the CIA and led to its troubles
in the 1870. with the exposure of
past "dirty tricks" and assassina-
tion plots, which investigation
showed had either misfired or were
never carried out.
A-'--- a Outlawed
Assassination is now specifically
outlawed as a CIA tool. However,
David Atlee P)Wips, a veteran of 20
year.' service in the CIA's clandes-,
tine services, notes: "Things might
be different in wartime."
The CIA's other branches-the
directorates of intelligence, admin-
istration, and science and technolo-
gy-utilise all areas of academia.
Within the branches, employees
conduct political and economic re-
search; arms, balance of power and
strategic assessments; space, envi-
ronmental, demographic, agricul-
tural, oceanographic, mineral, geo-
graphic and cartographic research;
imagery and photographic analysis
from satellite, aerial, ground and
sea reconnaissance, and work in
such fields as computer sciences,
communications, medicine, psy-
chology, foreign languages, small
arms and survival training.
Philips, in his unofficial 1985
book on intelligence jobs, "Careers
in Secret Operations; How to Be a
Federal Intelligence Officer," pro-
vides a look at some of the appli-
cants' potential questions and the
agency's responses:'
Q. I've been on drupe. Will I be
hired'
A. It depends on the narcotic
used, the frequency of use and how
recently you were into it. If you are
hired by the CIA or FBI, be ready
to give up all narcotics.
Q. T m any. Does it matter?
A. Yes. U.S. intelligence agencies
and departments do not now hire
known homosexuals. Homosexuals
continue to be considered security
risks in most intelligence agencies
and are not hired if homosexual
tendencies are spotted during se-
curity reviews.
Continued
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100040037-9