About This Career

Intelligence officers who specialize in human intelligence (HUMINT) manage operations to obtain intelligence information using humans as both intelligence data sources and collectors. Human intelligence officers may also be responsible for overseeing psychological operations, which are designed to control, influence, predict, and understand persons and groups though communication and contact with these individuals. Intelligence officers who specialize in HUMINT have an expert level of knowledge about the history, culture, geography, and current politics and economics of the country or countries to which they are assigned.

This career is part of the Government and Public Administration cluster National Security pathway.

A person in this career:

• Commands, plans, and directs the employment and execution of HUMINT, psychological operations, and/or counterintelligence (CI) units and approved operations and activities in support of military and national objectives
• Advises U.S. military and/or civilian agencies on the use, planning, conduct, and evaluation of psychological operations throughout the entire conflict spectrum; advises and instructs foreign governments and militaries on psychological operations
• Plans and conducts operations designed to control, influence, predict, and understand persons and groups through communication and contact between U.S. forces or personnel and target persons or groups
• Applies techniques and principles of interrogation and document exploitation
• Conducts and supervises both tactical and strategic interrogation-related duties, including interrogations of informants, prisoners of war, and refugees in a foreign language
• Develops and approves interrogations, document translations, plans, and missions
• Writes, reviews, and approves interrogation reports which include document translations and limited technical intelligence reports
• Identifies and resolves conflicting information provided by different sources in interrogation reports
• Coordinates with other intelligence and non-intelligence agencies in the performance of interrogation and debriefing duties
• Disseminates reports and makes assessments of the validity of information for dissemination to users

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being outside most of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Irregular hours
• Overnight travel