APU Careers Careers & Learning

Educational Opportunities in the Intelligence Field

By Online Career Tips Staff

When you think about jobs in the intelligence field, what images come to mind?  Something from the entertainment industry, such as the “007” movies, or Mad Magazine’s cartoon “Spy vs Spy?” Do you envision professors in tweed jackets with leather elbow patches at some university, using supercomputers and specially designed algorithms to crack supposedly unbreakable codes?

There’s an element of truth in all of that, but intelligence is a very broad field, and growing rapidly. The military, other government agencies, the corporate world, universities and other “think tanks” all need specialized information, loosely referred to as intelligence, and they need trained professionals. Intelligence professionals may be engaged in collecting, producing and distributing data with strategic, tactical or technical value. The broad range of data use includes such diverse activities as security and language translation and interrogation; mapping, charting and geodetic policy, and the analysis and interpretation of signals and imagery.  More traditional areas include research and analysis of open source material from national and international sources to detect current trends in certain important areas, and detailed analysis of certain social, political and economic data.

As intelligence needs become more sophisticated, the education levels needed also rise. Most universities are just beginning to recognize the need for good intelligence data.  By contrast, an institution such as American Military University (AMU), which has offered a strong degree in the intelligence program from its beginning, is a perfect solution for students who are currently involved in or wish to pursue a career as military, civilian or corporate intelligence specialists.

At AMU, a wide range of interests can be accommodated via concentrated areas of study in several functional areas or intelligence sub-fields. With its emphasis on a teaching staff that consists almost exclusively of professionals currently working in the field students can be certain that their learning experience is a timely and valid one.

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