The Defense Intelligence Agency is a Department of Defense combat support agency and an important member of the United States Intelligence Community. With over 12,000 military and civilian employees worldwide, DIA is a major producer and manager of foreign military intelligence. We provide military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners, in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition.

The Defense Intelligence Agency lists all of their student opportunities on one page.

Scholarships

The Undergraduate Training Assistance Program is aimed at funding your undergraduate degree, provide internships, and ultimately give full-time employment to after graduation. Tuition and required fees are paid up to $18,000. You will have an internship every summer. Health insurance, life insurance and retirement are also included. Upon graduation, you will be placed in job according to your abilities and skills.

Eligibility Requirements

• College class standing of freshman or sophomore
• A minimum cumulative of GPA of 3.0 for
  Demonstrated leadership abilities as evidenced by extracurricular student activities, a high degree of civic involvement, volunteer work, or part-time employment
• US citizenship of applicant and all members of the immediate family. Please be aware that security clearances can not be granted to applicants who hold dual citizenship. All finalists must pass a drug
  screening test. All applicants conditionally selected for internships and all DIA employees are subject to initial and periodic counterintelligence (CI)-scope polygraph tests.
• Financial need as demonstrated by the household income ceiling of $70,000 for a family of four and $80,000 for a family of five or more
• Additional requirements which may include written assessment exercises and interviews telephonically or in person may be required for finalists

DEADLINE: November 1st

All applications can be submitted here

Internships

The DIA has two undergraduate internships programs available. The Academic Semester Internship Program (ASIP) and the Summer Internship Program (SIP) offer rising college seniors a chance to do a summer or semester internship within the agency. Both of the programs have the same general requirements. The ASIP is only offered in the following localities: Washington, D.C., Huntsville, AL, Tampa, FL, Miami, FL, Omaha, NE, Scott Air Force Base, IL, and Colorado Springs, CO.

Eligibility Requirments

• Completion of 90 semester hours or its equivalent at the time of participation in the program.
• A minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or its equivalent at the time of application.
• US citizenship of applicant and all members of the immediate family. Please be aware that security clearances can not be granted to applicants who hold dual citizenship. All finalists must pass a drug screening test. All applicants conditionally selected for internships and all DIA employees are subject to initial and periodic counterintelligence (CI)-scope polygraph tests.
• Please note that the security clearance processing and drug screening test can not be conducted while the applicant is overseas.
• All applicants conditionally accepted for internships, and all DIA employees are subject to initial and periodic counterintelligence (CI) scope polygraph tests, and drug tests.

DEADLINE: November 1st (summer) March 1st (semester)

All applications can be submitted here

The first place to start looking for IC scholarships is the United States Intelligence Community student opportunity webpage . It can serve as a portal to the popular programs currently available. Upon my own investigation of this site, I found that all of the links to the agencies were broken. They display the correct links in the text, but the links are incorrect. I have the working hyperlinks listed here:

• Central Intelligence Agency
• Defense Intelligence Agency
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
• National Security Agency
• Office of Naval Intelligence

As I said in my earlier post, the great advantage of securing an IC scholarship/internship is having the government not only pay for the majority of your undergraduate degree, but also provide annual internships until graduation. After graduation, the agency will have a job with you name on it. You get to work with some of world’s most intelligent and driven individuals, and as FBI veteran Joe Koletar briefly mentions in his FBI Career Guide book, you can pull the “secret agent card” on dates. Don’t become blinded by the monetary figures and promised glory. A job in the IC is not for the light-hearted. Expect work in the IC to be challenging, competitive , and stressful. An IC agency may pay for your college degree and provide you internships, but in return, you owe them several years of your life.

The IC offers many different types of scholarship and internship programs targeted at different class standings and skill-sets. I will broadly cover the scholarships that I think would be most relevant. In the first installment of six, I have researched the Central Intelligence Agency.

CIA

Scholarships

The CIA has a program entitled, the Undergraduate Scholarship Program. It offered to anyone who meets serveral requirements:

• US citizenship
• 3.0/4.0 scale high school or college GPA or higher
• Financial need as demonstrated by the household income ceiling of $70,000 for a family of four, and $80,000 for a family of five or more
• Meet the same employment standards as permanent employees, successfully completing both security and medical processing
• Available to work in the Washington, DC area during your periods of employment

This scholarship includes health, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, and retirement; and up to $18,000 per calendar year for tuition, mandatory fees, books, and supplies. You must be able to work in the DC area every summer, and upon graduation must work for the CIA approximately 1.5 the amount of time you held the scholarship.

DEADLINE: July 15 - November 1
To apply for this position visit the Undergraduate Scholarship Program page.

Internships

The CIA has several programs each focused on different skill-sets. Like the scholarship, they have some universal eligibility requirements:

• American citizenship
• GPA of 3.0
• Eligible to be granted a security clearance
• DC-based location
• Work either a combination of one semester and one summer internship or two 90-day summer internships
• Haven’t used illegal drugs within the last 12 months

Analysis

Analysis undergraduate interns work on teams with our full-time analysts. They research, analyze, write, and brief on international political, military, economic, scientific, technical, and leadership developments. In addition to their analytic responsibilities, undergraduate interns become familiar with the Agency and Intelligence Community by participating in a range of meetings and projects.

National Clandestine Service

The National Clandestine Service Internship Program is designed to give a limited number of talented undergraduate students the opportunity to work in supporting the NCS mission of collecting human intelligence on critical international developments. The NCS intern will be part of a unique world of important events and meaningful accomplishments.

Network Engineer

Support Services trainee program seeks motivated undergraduate students to serve internships in a team environment working with customers and network engineers to design, develop, and implement new network architectures and enhancements to the Agency’s networks. These projects span technologies in local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and video teleconferencing. Responsibilities include hardware and software integration, analysis, testing, documentation, problem resolution, requirements definition, and project documentation. Candidate will also participate in engineering reviews, staff meetings, and other activities, which will increase their network understanding and the issues and challenges facing a telecommunications service provider.

Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance Internship

The Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance (CSNR) is the National Reconnaissance Office’s research, policy analysis, and history component. CSNR products and activities help define and explain the discipline, practice, and history of national reconnaissance. CSNR functions are intended to help provide NRO leadership with a historical context and conceptual focus for its policy and programmatic decisions. CSNR also responds to today’s reality of an increasingly open NRO, and helps to inform and educate the national reconnaissance community.

The CSNR internship program seeks qualified candidates for undergraduate and graduate student internship opportunities. The CSNR internship offers candidates a wide range of work assignments. Interns will assist in CSNR’s three program areas: Research, Studies and Analysis; History; and Recognition, Exhibits and Outreach. CSNR interns perform classified and unclassified research for briefings, presentations, oral and program histories, policy decision risk assessments, and a variety of other products. The CSNR internship is an excellent academic and professional opportunity for students in the fields of political science, history, international affairs, or similar areas of study.

Open Source Officer (co-op)

Open Source program seeks motivated undergraduate students pursuing degrees in a variety of liberal arts degree programs to work as Open Source Officers (OSO). OSOs are the Intelligence Community’s foreign media experts. They use foreign language and area knowledge to review and assess foreign open media sources, which include Internet sites, newspapers, press agencies, television, radio and specialized publications. OSOs collect intelligence from these media and deliver high-impact products to policymakers, negotiators, military planners, and analysts throughout the US foreign affairs community. Undergraduate co-ops will use their foreign language skills and area knowledge to contribute to the drafting of informational and analytic products; edit translated materials for grammatical accuracy; and to conduct foreign website searches.

DEADLINES FOR INTERNSHIPS: Open Until November 1 (co-op is different )

Apply by by submitting your resume.