Information for Current CISS Students
Information for current CISS students enrolled in the program.
Internships
One of the most important requirements of the Intelligence and Security Studies (ISS) minor is the completion of an internship. Students in the Global Security Studies (GSS) minor can also complete an internship as an elective. CISS faculty and staff work with ISS students to place them in an internship that will give them an opportunity to practice the analytic tradecraft that they have learned through the ISS curriculum and that will advance their professional ambitions. Since 2008, our students have successfully completed internships across the Intelligence Community to include the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DIA. ISS students are strongly encouraged to begin thinking about internship possibilities as soon as they are accepted into the ISS program.
Internship Opportunities
Internships are available throughout the year from many different venues. Here you can view several of the internship applications that have deadlines in the near future. Keep in mind that this is not an all-inclusive list of internships, but it provides a wide range of options that previous CISS students have considered.
Remember to inform Ms. Susan Kelly about your goals and progress throughout the application process. She offers valuable guidance in obtaining an internship that meet the requirements for the ISS minor.
General Deadline Information
- Federal internship application periods typically open during the fall for the following summer. For example: If you are applying for an internship for summer 2024, the application period will typically be from March 1, 2023 through October 15, 2023.
- While each agency’s application period takes place during the fall, the deadline dates vary so please be aware of each agency’s deadline.
- Internships with private organizations often vary or are on a rolling basis. Please visit each organization’s website to verify application deadlines.
Internship Forms
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CISS Internship Agreement Form
This form is the basic contract. Our interns are to responsibly and professionally represent the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies and the University of Mississippi for the duration of their internship.
Internship Agreement Form -
Student Internship Evaluation Form
At the end of the internship, students submit an evaluation via Blackboard.
Evaluation Form
Career Opportunities in the Intelligence Community
The intelligence community offers a variety of professions distributed across multiple federal government agencies, numerous state and local organizations, and many private sector companies. Though there are many career options, intelligence, national security careers can fall into three general categories: cybersecurity, intelligence analyst, operations officer, and competitive intelligence analyst.
A lucrative, growing field, cybersecurity focuses on protecting organizations from digital attacks and keeping their information and networks safe. Cybersecurity experts detect vulnerabilities, recommend software and hardware programs that can mitigate risks, and develop policies and procedures for maintaining security.
As more businesses move their operations online, and with cyberattacks on the rise, the need for skilled cybersecurity professionals is projected to grow, particularly for healthcare and financial organizations. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 32% job growth rate for information security analysts between 2018-2028.
As an intelligence analyst, you will collate diverse reports from the largest information feeds in history, distilling the essence of the data into daily briefings or longer-format reports, like National Intelligence Estimates. You will apply Structured Analytic Methodologies to your critical thinking, and generate plausible hypotheses from very little information. Depending on your specialization, you will build profiles of nations, organizations, drug lords, terrorists or serial killers. Your job will constantly change, shifting with national security objectives or moving with the flow of street crime.
Intelligence Analysts work in national security, law enforcement, and private industry.
Operations Officers serve on the front lines of the human intelligence collection business by clandestinely recruiting and handling sources of foreign intelligence. It takes special skills and professional discipline to establish strong human relationships that result in high-value intelligence from clandestine sources.
As an Operations Officer, you will collect information and run counter-intelligence operations. You will use your interest in foreign affairs, your language and communication skills, and your impeccable integrity to work with people of different backgrounds and viewpoints, all in the name of advancing national security interests. Operations Officers have the opportunity to travel or live abroad, which allows them to become culturally flexible and versatile.
Operations Officers work for the CIA’s National Clandestine Service and the Defense Intelligence Agency. In the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Operations Officers are referred to as Special Agents; they conduct operations domestically and investigate federal criminal matters.
CI is a necessary, ethical business discipline for decision making based on understanding the competitive environment. Cite: Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
Executives in the business world cannot rely solely on intuition and experience when making business decisions. Fast-growth CEOs who rated competitor information as being either ‘very’ or ‘critically’ important grew revenues 20% faster than their counterparts (PriceWaterhouseCoopers Trendsetter Barometer, March 2002). Competitive intelligence is not industrial espionage, which is illegal. It is a process involving the gathering of information and converting it into intelligence, and then using this in business decision-making.
Salaries in the Intelligence Community are commensurate with your expertise. A starting intelligence analyst often earns a Grade 7 Step 1 ($40,000) salary. If you have a degree in a critical field, such as chemistry or biology, or you are fluent in a language, your base salary may be higher for some organizations (e.g., CIA NCS offers one-time language bonuses up to $35,000 at signing). The intelligence community is moving to a pay-for-performance system, where bonuses are awarded for effective analysts.
Competitive intelligence analysts working in the private sector can earn an average of $65,358. The top 37% of job postings advertise salaries over $80,000 (source: indeed.com). The average salary for a competitive intelligence administrator is $150,000. The highest-paid 25% of independent consultants earn $100,000 or more.