If you’re an analyst who wants to focus on issues and places in one of the oldest and most prestigious intelligence collections in the government, you may want to start looking for positions with the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. INR gathers information and intelligence to aid diplomats and State Department employees. It’s a direct descendent of the Office of Strategic Services Research Department, the oldest civilian intelligence organization in the U.S. government. INR is one of the smallest intelligence gathering organizations in the U.S., with just over 300 employees.
It’s Challenging to Find INR in Online searches
Think of INR as the Page 6 of the intelligence community – if you want to know what’s happening behind the scenes, who hates who and why, ask INR. They are the intelligence sleuths responsible for very granular polling across the international community. That nuanced intelligence aids foreign policy decision making and is disseminated through the broader IC.
Because the office is so small and its focus area so nich, this shop can move information through the intelligence cycle with laser focus. Former CIA official Carl W. Ford Jr. told the New York Times, “The analysts at INR are a curmudgeon-like group who delight in being different and getting to the body of something and not caring what other people think.”
The Mission and The Locations
INR has three primary missions: All Source Analysis, Intelligence Policy and Coordination, and Analytic Outreach. Even though INR is the smallest intelligence working group in the IC, they have 23 offices working on specific types of intelligence and regions.
Can You Get a Job with The INR?
The INR has an extremely competitive hiring environment for intelligence research specialists focusing on their areas of responsibility including technical intelligence, cyber, economic analysis, human traffic, and public opinion – in addition to the need for expertise in geographic areas across the globe.
Analysts are experts at what they do, having multiple languages under the belt, multiple degrees hanging on their in-home office walls, and have decades of experience in their area of responsibility (AOR). If you’re looking for a competitive career with some of the best intelligence gathering professionals in the business, check out careers with INR.
