I'm looking around, more out of interest than anything else, but can anyone point me towards some basic information geared towards what military intelligence officers do?

I've looked at goarmy.com which was mildly helpful in labeling the specialties.

My other questions include specifics about the specialities such as required training, growth opportunities, and so forth. I noted a thread that mentioned intelligence personnel undergoing ranger training thus I wonder what role, if any, will intelligence officers serve in special operations.

The general rundown on the whole army intelligency community would be interesting. Is it more of a role served in a deployed environment, etc? Particularly, HUMINT, counterintelligence, and all-source seem interesting.

I ask all of this because I'm looking for a new career. I'm a law enforcement officer, with a college degree, looking at law school next year. However, I'm not sure I want to be a litigator so there's no point in going, and I understand a JAG is of course a "regular army lawyer." Frankly, I'm really just wanting to move into some type of special investigations or intelligence field, and the military has always been appealing. Obviously, interviewing, deduction, law (albeit not that applicable to intel I suppose) and that type of thing intrigue me.

Just to throw in another idea for you. There are civilian intel positions (CI) in the Army and DOD...look at USAJOBS for more info. Here is a link to one such job.

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/Get...9-08-11+00%3a03%3a00

Just cut and paste and take a look. Just my two cents.

Unfortunately, this is an all too common question with no real answer. The potential duties are simply too varied to fit into a nice, concise post on a web page. You could be strategic or tactical. You could be on a staff or in an actual operational unit. You could be in an MI unit or a line unit. You could be in a leadership position or not.

Each of these scenarios presents a very different daily life for you. Some are desirable, some not so much.

Your best bet, start googling mi officer or something similar and see what you find.

MI officers are generally administrators. They work in Headquarters or are put in charge of MI units, but do not do much actual field work themselves (except maybe the lieutenants who are platoon leaders). If you want to be "In Charge" of the people doing the the collections, then being an officer is for you. You must be good at PowerPoint slide shows.

With a few exceptions, the actual investigations, interviews, surveillance, and analysis work is generally done done by the enlisted or Warrant officers. Enlisted MOS's you might be interested in would be -
Counterintelligence Agent (35L)
Human Intelligence Collector (35M)
Criminal Investigations (CID) Special Agent (31D)

You can look up any of these on the internet and see what the job entails. Good luck if you decide to join up.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ColdWarGranny,

I am prior service 11B and I am currently taking Arabic in college. I am wondering if any one knows if should I commission and get branched Intel would I have opportunities to use and expand the language as an officer?

quote:

Originally posted by man55:
I am prior service 11B and I am currently taking Arabic in college. I am wondering if any one knows if should I commission and get branched Intel would I have opportunities to use and expand the language as an officer?

I think the big IF there is IF you get branched MI. There are no guarantees in the commissioning process.

Will you use the language as an officer? Probably not. Big Army won't even track it as a factor in assignment selection, unless you get into the FAO program and that's later on down the line in your career (senior Captain, I believe) and not a guarantee either.

If you want to expand the language, get into an MOS where you can use it (35P/M/maybe N). If you want to be an officer, do that because you want additional responsibility.