Intelligence analyst/officer
Intelligence analysts work primarily for the public sector, including the armed forces and police. They also have significant roles in the UK’s three intelligence and security agencies, where intelligence analysts work in the acquisition, evaluation, analysis and assessment of secret intelligence.
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) describes them as intelligence analysts, the Security Service (MI5) calls them intelligence officers and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) uses the phrase operational officers (further subdivided by MI6 into case officers, targeting officers and reports officers).
Intelligence sources include signals intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT) although many different sources and analytical techniques are used. Intelligence analysts work to protect UK national security and economic well-being as well as to detect and prevent serious organised crime (such as drug trafficking).
Working to government requirements and priorities, intelligence analysts may be involved in providing support to military operations, detecting and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear), counter-espionage and counter-terrorism.
The occupation of an intelligence analyst covers a diverse range of activities, dependent on the organisation's remit and individual's role within a team. Each role calls for its own precise mix of skills and abilities. They may differ greatly in the police, for example, compared to the intelligence and security agencies.
Typical work activities may, however, include:
Colleagues may include librarians (open source/public domain information specialists), cryptanalysts and mathematicians (codes and ciphers) as well as linguists.
Intelligence analysts working for the above mentioned agencies are bound by many of the same rules, terms and working conditions of other government departments. The key difference is the secrecy of the work. You will not be able to talk about your work to friends and family and in the case of MI5 and MI6, you can only reveal your employer to immediate family.
This area of work is open to graduates of any degree discipline. Degree classification requirements can vary between the agencies. Candidates with language and/or technology skills may be at an advantage but all three agencies do recruit linguist and technology specialists separately.
Candidates must be British citizens and at least one parent must also be a British citizen, or be able to demonstrate considerable ties. Further nationality rules apply.
The agencies may consider candidates who have significant work experience perhaps in an intelligence environment, such as the armed forces, in lieu of a degree qualification. In addition, the agencies may consider candidates requesting a transfer from another civil service department who are at executive officer level or higher.
The agencies look for individuals with personal integrity, honesty, discretion and reliability as well as many of the following skills, abilities and competences:
The agencies look for talented candidates who have an interest in national and international current affairs and who have a good understanding of information and communications technologies, combined with a willingness to keep up to date with related developments.
The selection process is likely to be lengthy; it can include a number of competency tests, telephone interviews and attendance of an assessment centre. See the employer’s website for details of the process.
The agencies do not reveal details of the numbers of applications they receive or precise details of the number of vacancies available. However, they are looking for high-calibre people and competition for places is strong.
Candidates are advised not to discuss their application with anyone, and if successful at the recruitment and selection stages they then need to pass ‘developed vetting security clearance’ in order to be granted access to secret intelligence. This background checking process can be intrusive and candidates must be prepared to answer questions about their personal life (such as relationships and finances) as well as undertake a drugs test. The check can take between three to six months to complete and the time lag between initial application submission and starting employment may be up to nine months.
For more information, see work experience and internships and search courses and research.
The agencies offer structured inductions as well as on-the-job training programmes that consist of core training. These are followed by tailored courses that are relevant to the particular jobs.
Opportunities include:
Intelligence analysts are encouraged to develop their skills and learn new ones as part of a programme of continuing professional development (CPD). For example, on average, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) employees have seven-and-a-half days' formal training each year complemented with on-the-job development opportunities.
The first posting as an intelligence analyst is likely to be for a period between 18 months and three years, and new recruits can expect lots of responsibility from an early stage. The agencies aim to identify people to work in specific areas from the skills, abilities and competencies identified during the recruitment process. Thereafter, there are opportunities to move between jobs every two to three years. This may either be moving to a comparable role within operations or moving to work in other parts of the business including policy, projects, personnel, finance or team management.
Intelligence analysts are strongly encouraged to move jobs in order to take on new challenges and gain experience across a number of areas.
The nature of intelligence and security work means that it is possible for an intelligence analyst to remain in that role for many years, perhaps moving within or between teams to focus on different areas (such as a new geographical region or specific analytical techniques). For example, the speed, depth and range of changes in information and communications technologies means that intelligence analysts are required to constantly adapt working methods to meet new opportunities and threats.
The UK’s three intelligence and security agencies which employ intelligence analysts are:
Other parts of the UK government also contribute to intelligence collection and/or analysis, notably the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) . SOCA became operational in April 2006, taking over serious crime responsibilities from the Security Service.
The Ministry of Defence also employs intelligence analysts, either directly recruited as civilians into Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) , or recruited as military staff. For example, the British Army recruits intelligence analyst into the Intelligence Corps .
UK police services also individually recruit criminal intelligence analysts. They analyse reported crime statistics to identify patterns in crime behaviours in order to predict future crime and persuade senior staff to allocate crime-fighting resources accordingly.
See Police Recruitment for information about working for the police force in the UK. The National Intelligence Model describes intelligence-led policing.
All three agencies separately advertise vacancies in the national press and on their own websites. In addition, the agencies’ specific recruitment campaigns are often accompanied by dedicated websites. Look out for further information on this on the above websites. Candidates must apply online through the respective agencies’ websites.
Other sources of vacancies for intelligence analyst roles elsewhere include:
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