BRAVEONAWARPATH Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903501.html I thought this was interesting. To the list of collegiate types -- nerds, jocks, Greeks -- add one more: spies in training. The government is hoping they'll be hard to spot. The Obama administration has proposed the creation of an intelligence officer training program in colleges and universities that would function much like the Reserve Officers' Training Corps run by the military services. The idea is to create a stream "of first- and second-generation Americans, who already have critical language and cultural knowledge, and prepare them for careers in the intelligence agencies," according to a description sent to Congress by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair. In recent years, the CIA and other intelligence agencies have struggled to find qualified recruits who can work the streets of the Middle East and South Asia to penetrate terrorist groups and criminal enterprises. The proposed program is an effort to cultivate and educate a new generation of career intelligence officers from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. Under the proposal, part of the administration's 2010 intelligence authorization bill, colleges and universities would apply for grants that would be used to expand or introduce courses of study to "meet the emerging needs of the intelligence community." Those courses would include certain foreign languages, analysis and specific scientific and technical fields. The students' participation in the program would probably be kept secret to prevent them from being identified by foreign intelligence services, according to an official familiar with the proposal. Students attending participating colleges and universities who agree to take the specialized courses would apply to the national intelligence director for admittance to the program, whose administrators would select individuals "competitively" for financial assistance. Much like the support provided to those in the military programs, the financial assistance could include "a monthly stipend, tuition assistance, book allowances and travel expenses," according to the proposal. It also would involve paid summer internships at one or more intelligence agencies. Applicants to the intelligence training program would have to pass a security background investigation, although it is unclear when they would have to do so. Students who receive a certain amount of financial assistance would be obligated to serve in an intelligence agency for the same length of time as they received their subsidy. Students in the military programs typically participate for all four years of college, but the intelligence program would seek to recruit sophomores and juniors. Through grants to colleges and universities, intelligence agencies have been building partnerships with academia and specific professors, some of whom in past decades served as channels for recommending applicants to the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The intelligence community already has a Centers of Academic Excellence Program that funds programs in national security studies at more than 14 colleges and universities, with a goal of having 20 participating schools by 2015. The programs receive between $500,000 and $750,000 a year. The intelligence officer training program would build on two earlier efforts. One was a pilot program, first authorized in 2004, for as many as 400 students who took cryptologic training and agreed to work for the National Security Agency or another intelligence agency for each year they received financial assistance. That program will be replaced by the new one because cryptology is not as needed as it once was. A second program provided financial assistance to selected intelligence community employees who agreed to study in specialized academic areas in which officials believed there were analytic deficiencies. Named the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program, after the Kansas Republican who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, over the past four years it has provided funds to some 800 students and current employees. The director of national intelligence would make the Roberts program permanent under the new proposal and expand it beyond analysts to include personnel in acquisition, science and technology. It also could be used to help recruit employees by reimbursing them for prior education in critical areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Mike Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Sounds like a great idea to me but I have one concern... The students' participation in the program would probably be kept secret to prevent them from being identified by foreign intelligence services, according to an official familiar with the proposal. How does a college student keep the classes he takes in an open university secret. Sure you can keep the paperwork secret but what is the kid supposed to do, go to a secret class in a basement through an elevator in the broom closet? I'm guessing the course study must be normal classes like language and foreign studies that would be useful later as spies but I cant get the image out of my head of a kid sneaking through some sort of secret door to get to "spy class" LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoCalMike Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 To the BAT CAVE.................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAVEONAWARPATH Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 I'm guessing the course study must be normal classes like language and foreign studies that would be useful later as spies but I cant get the image out of my head of a kid sneaking through some sort of secret door to get to "spy class" LOL. :hysterical: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Sounds like a great idea to me but I have one concern... Yep, we already recruit from the colleges and I don't see a benefit to it being even more public. But since we do not do much covert work ourselves anymore ,I guess it is not that big a deal anyway.:whoknows: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 This was definitely going on when i was in college. Why would the administration say anything publicly about it? :whoknows: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAVEONAWARPATH Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Why would the administration say anything publicly about it? :whoknows: I thought this was common knowledge anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Well this is just a program that will get penetrated. There is a lot of risk here. I hope they make them do yearly polygraphs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissU28 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 This is what my dad used to do- in Southeast Asia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMike619 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 This is what my dad used to do- in Southeast Asia go to college? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Sounds like a great idea to me but I have one concern...How does a college student keep the classes he takes in an open university secret. Sure you can keep the paperwork secret but what is the kid supposed to do, go to a secret class in a basement through an elevator in the broom closet? I'm guessing the course study must be normal classes like language and foreign studies that would be useful later as spies but I cant get the image out of my head of a kid sneaking through some sort of secret door to get to "spy class" LOL. I'd imagine that only their participation in the program would be kept secret. But they'd still be say an engineering major or a foreign studies major. But I guess their coursework would be moreso chosen by the intelligence agencies instead of just by the requirements for a certain major. What I'd question though is if somebody else who took the same classes could get into the program. Say there are two friends - Chuck and Chris - who take all the same classes and Chuck does better than Chris in all the classes, but Chris was selected to be in the intelligence program and Chuck wasn't. I'd think that Chuck would be pissed not to get offered a job in this agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissU28 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 go to college? no dummy....he was a case officer....he was a spy:cool2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMike619 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 no dummy....he was a case officer....he was a spy:cool2: youre the dummy. dummy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailGreen28 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Why didn't the Obama admin just quietly fund new "foreign cultures" classes in colleges, without proclaiming anything other than a desire for students to learn more about the world. And just let the future spies benefit from that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsHokieFan Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Yea that wasn't a bright idea to announce it. The concept has always been a good one And for the paragraph about cryptos. Thats a lie, they still need tons of cryptos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 hrmm, some of you are missing the point here. Obama talking about it = More kids will listen and join. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Sounds like a great idea to me but I have one concern...How does a college student keep the classes he takes in an open university secret. Sure you can keep the paperwork secret but what is the kid supposed to do, go to a secret class in a basement through an elevator in the broom closet? I'm guessing the course study must be normal classes like language and foreign studies that would be useful later as spies but I cant get the image out of my head of a kid sneaking through some sort of secret door to get to "spy class" LOL. I imagine class entrance to be a bit like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvMj5LuT5hk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brave Little Toaster Oven Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 no dummy....he was a case officer....he was a spy:cool2: I dont know if Id be broadcasting that on the internets...you might end up like the daughter from the movie 'Taken' :paranoid: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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