I’m currently a female junior in high school and thinking about military intelligence by the ROTC path. Does anyone have any information on military intelligence or rotc it’s self or a better path to take. thank you
Tell us why you think you will want to work in Military Intelligence. The perception shaped by TV, movies, and books bear very little resemblance to the actual work. Most of it is very boring and tedious and it’s more Microsoft Office skills (Iots of Powerpoint) than going out and doing cool James Bond stuff (which you won’t be doing). As for ROTC, figure what you want to major in and find out which schools you are applying to that has an ROTC program.
My brother and sister both served in the Army for 20 or more years in military intelligence and retired. Not sure what you mean by “it’s self or a better path”? There are a lot of interesting and rewarding jobs in the military intelligence. As an army officer many of the jobs up until you are a captain or so are tactical with a combat arms unit. Military intelligence has a lot of female officers so career opportunities are good. It would be very hard to predict your chances of being commissioned into military intelligence at this point. Its an important branch of the army but not a very large one. Consider also West Point - if you are going to be an army officer it is probably the best source of a commission and it’s free
Thank you for your help and I’m interested in intelligence not for the James Bond movie but I love the thought of taking information and putting it all together to inform people on the next mission. I’m also interested in international relations so I think intelligence will connect to that
Thank you and by “its self or a better path” I meant any information on rotc or another path into military intelligence sorry that was not clear
Find out which schools you are applying to and which ones have the ROTC programs you want. Try all the services (Army, Navy, Air Force). You didn’t say which service you wanted to go into, but each of them have intelligence career fields. Whether you get picked up for intel after commissioning is another story and that depends on the needs of the service. If you are interested in International Relations, it would be good to pick a language needed by the military to get to a highest proficiency level (Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) Proficiency Level 3 at least).
Thank you I will look into the languages and I’m interested in the airforce but trying to decide which branch is the best for intelligence work
I think you can get better answers to those questions on Quora.com
Active dutySoldier here. I do not work in the intelligence field, but I’ve spoken with several intelligence junior enlisted offline and online. I considered pursuing a career in military intelligence.
First off, military intelligence is a broad field. Very broad. It used to be divided into 2 field, but now it’s three. Cyber, Signal, and …strategic intelligence? ( I forgot the actual name). Regardless,they all tie together. This isn’t super secret information, it’s public. The biggest growing field is cyber defense in the military. Military has lagged behind in this regard, but it’s catching up and slot for cyber defenders are growing. Promotions are…well, very good for these positions. But the schooling is long (1 year).
Anyway. A visit to any of the miltary branches website online will give you a taste of all the intellligence fields. I’ll let you explore these yourself. While the concept of intelligence is the same, regardless of branch, its scope and missions differ. For example, the Air Force will focus on intelligence to protect its skies while the Navy will read up and type up intelligence reports for the seas, (Coast Guard does this too). It is important to note civillian contractors do this too.
However, before I go on and on, there are some musts if you want to join the intelligence field.
- You must have your finances in order. If you have debt, you must prove it's being paid responsibiliy and not overwhelming. A person with a negative net worth is prone to bribing.
- Direct ties with family from other countries will be scrutinized. Not to say you can't have family, just know this must be told to the government. If you have family in the middle east or russia....get ready for the interviews and polygraph tests.
- No drugs. That's self explanatory.
- Top Secret clearance requires a new investigation every 5 years. Depeding on your intelligence field, you might required even further clearance.Guess what? The government will investigate you up the whazoo. When they interview your references, a common question is "Who else does do you know?". Meaning, the gov't will interview even non-references. Get ready.
Once you obtain a Top-Secret Clearance, it’s easier to move in the civillian sector where pay is better. Way better. While the field looks glamorous, it comes with sacrifices. Expect deployments, random assignments, and at times, lots of boring powerpoings and typing up reports.
THe most exciting intelligence? In my opinion, would be Special Forces or CID (the military’s mini FBI). Civil Affairs is a close second.
You have to understand, just because the title includes intelligence doesn’t mean that’s the only field that deal with intelligence. There are many types of “intelligence”. For example, remember how I mentioned the Navy deals with the seas and the air force deals with the skies? While all the intel they gather is the same…is is different but similar in a sense. Different missions, different area, but same style of gathering.
A few other types of “intelligence” fields are MISO/PSYOP (google it), Civil Affairs, Special Forces, CID (enlisted only), and the least well known one: Adjutant General(AG). While AG work is boring the first few years, if you move into Inspector General assigments, you’ll be dealing with tons of counterintelligence. There is also a field of medical intelligence in the military, but that requires manyyears in the military.
Anyway, I know that was lengthy but hope it painted a picture. Cheers.