Intelligence Officers

High School

If you are interested in becoming an intelligence officer, you can begin preparation in high school by taking courses in English, history, government, journalism, geography, social studies, and foreign languages. You should develop your writing and computer skills as well. Students with the highest grades have the best possibilities for finding employment as intelligence officers.

Postsecondary Training

You must earn at least a bachelor's degree to become an intelligence officer, and an advanced degree is desirable. Specialized skills are also needed for many intelligence roles. The ability to read and speak a foreign language is an asset, as is computer literacy. Intelligence officers must have excellent analytical as well as oral and written communication skills. A historian's skills are needed to analyze political, historical, cultural, and social institutions of other nations. An intelligence officer must examine the evolution of a country, analyzing how the trends and precedents of the past relate to current and future developments.