Ah, @sorghum, but when IF you’re asked to download for work, it will be following the relevant laws and regs. Many of those working for intelligence aren’t downloading anything.
Apparently ex-Director Comey was scheduled to give a talk about increasing diversity in FBI hiring tonight in LA.
You don’t need to limit yourself to the public sector. My husband works in the private sector for an international risk management company. When I mentioned to him a couple years ago that my niece was going to some college I had never heard of called Mercyhurst, he immediately responded, “I know that school-I’ve hired several grads from their Intelligence Studies program.” Apparently their degree program is well regarded for people interested in pursuing intelligence analyst positions. Dh’s company has positions all over the world tho headquartered in the DC area.
Wow, never heard of intelligence studies. It makes sense there should be such a field, just never knew it was a formal degree program.
I suppose it depends on how you define intelligence. Most intelligence operations from hacking your target’s computers to running confidential humint sources would be illegal under US law, if done by a private company, unless you’re talking about government contractors.
@roethlisburger , they use open source intelligence. The work his company does is actually quite interesting and their clients range from colleges with study abroad programs to large international hotel chains, and yes, some government contracts. I’m not going to say much else in the interest of keeping my identity relatively private, but there is no hacking or illegal activity going on.
My eldest at 12 wanted to be a Math teacher. She is now a HS Math Teacher. 
If you are interested in Security Studies, the best places in the US are Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, outside of the US, you look at St. Andrews and Oxford (of course, my information is dated, but I did my M.Litt. in International Security Studies at St. Andrews in '00). One of the professors at Georgetown, Bruce Hoffman, used to be at St. Andrews and used to head the RAND office in DC. He is an internationally recognized academic on the topic of terrorism.
The FBI has certain schools that it “traditionally” has liked to recruit from, like Holy Cross. Understand though, that FBI agents have to apply, then graduate from the course at Quantico.
There are many different jobs in this field, some government, some think tank, some academic. Post 9/11 the field has drastically changed.
There are also related positions at the IRS and other agencies that deal with financial crimes.
The FBI can be very slow to actually start people in a job after they are given a conditional job offer.
People with computer and language skills are in demand for many agencies. However, if you are foreign born or spent a long amount of time overseas, it can complicate receiving a security clearance. Also, there are some questions in the security clearance that can cause difficulties for the typical person with computer hacking skills, such as drug use and whether you illegally download movies. The FBI uses lie detectors for all potential employees.
Security clearances also include credit checks, so be very careful about bad debts.
The FBI hires also surveillance specialists and program analysts, which can include people right out of college.
It is a whole additional level of competition to become a FBI special agent. You must be 25 years old, but many are older, and most have extensive experience in law enforcement or the military.
Note to OP: You don’t have to seek “a job like James Comey’s”… that position is open! 
2 of the 3 guys I knew from college that went FBI were actuary majors. 1 now investigates fraud, the other domestic terrorism. The 3rd was some sort of business major. Pretty sure all 3 started doing something related to their field straight out of college, but within the first 5 years after graduation were with the FBI.