# How do I become a secret agent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049 "2004-06-18T15:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/1 "2004-06-18T15:35:49Z")
I was listening to a new story about that guy whose wife was exposed by the White House as an undercover CIA agent, allegedly in retaliation for this guy’s exposé of some country providing uranium to Iraq that really wasn’t, or some such thing. How do you get to be an undercover CIA agent, anyway? I don’t see ads in the Washington Post under “Deep cover agent needed, poison dart ballpoint pen a plus.” Do they start people at mundane research jobs and then skim the cream for promising agents? Do they actually recruit people with the idea of turning them into spies? How do you find out that’s what they have in mind for you? Is it a matter of hoping you are selected, or can you voice a desire for that type of assignment? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/2 "2004-06-18T15:39:53Z")
In Australia ASIO, the sorta Aussie CIA, often advertises positions in the press. Most people do apparently start out as “analysts”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/3 "2004-06-18T15:40:38Z")
You can join the Secret Service [here](http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/opportunities_ud_test.shtml). If you would prefer the CIA, try [here](http://cia.gov/employment/index.html). Neither site appers to list “spy” as a career path, though. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/4 "2004-06-18T15:41:48Z")
Or there is the Chuck Barris route. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/5 "2004-06-18T15:58:49Z")
ssshhhh or it won’t be a secret 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/6 "2004-06-18T16:04:47Z")
The CIA mostly recruits on college campuses. I grew up in a Northern Virginia neighborhood where there were 6 CIA families on our block, and my neighbor (a career Company man) actually steered me towards a job interview. I showed up at an office right off the Rosslyn Metro station and filled out an application. First question was whether I wanted a “professional” or “clerical” position. I kinda wigged out at all the drug questions, though, and wound up in newspapers instead. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/7 "2004-06-18T16:10:53Z")
I’ve seen print ads for the CIA in the employment section of newspapers like the New York Times. If you follow the link given above for jobs at the CIA, you can get to a page describing jobs in the “Clandestine Service” which sounds like what you want. I had a friend in college who took the test necessary for applying for a CIA job. They told her that if you were interested in such a job, you shouldn’t tell people that, so posting here may not be wise. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/8 "2004-06-18T16:14:05Z")
The Clandestine Service of the CIA (see Tapioca’s link) is the part of the agency that recruits, trains, and runs undercover agents. An operations officer is someone who has either: an official cover as an employee of a US Embassy with diplomatic immunity, and recruits spies ini the course of those duties; or a non-official cover as a ordinary person with no immunity who recruits and runs spies in another country. The Clanestine Service has some overlap into analysis, but the focus of its mission is on collecting intelligence. The Directorate of Intelligence is more focused on analysis, and that’s pretty much a different shop. I think you can still send in your resume online. You will be called if they are interested in you. The CIA looks for folks with special skills, like knowledge of science or difficult languages. The overwhelming number of applicants do not get called for interviews, for they have no such special skills. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/9 "2004-06-19T00:12:48Z")
I applied, once. In the early 80’s. They never called back. I’m not certain why. I was applying for the Clerical gig. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/10 "2004-06-22T11:49:58Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > . . . if you [are] interested in such a job, you shouldn’t tell people that, so posting here may not be wise. Just a clarification, this is an academic question. I am not really trying to become a spy. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/11 "2004-06-22T12:11:45Z")
Back in the '70’s a friend of mine applied for a job with the CIA as a gag. They never got in touch with him, though. Maybe that was because, under “Career Goals” he put down “world domination.” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/12 "2004-06-22T12:21:22Z")
_THEY_ know who you are already. If _THEY_ decide you would be a useful addition to The Company then _THEY_ will contact you. Any attempts to contact _THEM_ will be rerouted to a dry cleaning establishment or other front. ---
**Author:** ![sterwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@sterwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sterwill)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-become-a-secret-agent/251049/13 "2004-06-22T20:44:21Z")
I came across this last year (but it’s been updated since then): [Interviewing With An Intelligence Agency (or, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Fort Meade)](http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/nsa-interview.pdf) (PDF, Google’s HTML version [here](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:8AyPz2ppbMoJ:www.fas.org/irp/eprint/nsa-interview.pdf+NSA+interview&hl=en)). In it, the author describes in detail the application and interview process at the NSA (National Security Agency), who may not have Bond-like secret agents, but has a lot of secrets.