Great sense of mission, with some neat opportunities available, but bureaucracy is a drag. - Intelligence Analyst CIA Employee Review

4.0
Nov 10, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Stable job. Great sense of mission. Get to know some cool stuff. Some great opportunities to do exciting things. Stable salary increases with annual COLA.

Cons

Giant bureaucracy. Bad middle management. Career sometimes driven by external events (world affairs). Can miss opportunities to do cool stuff because of bureaucratic obstacles.

Explore other reviews about CIA

5.0
Jun 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great travel opportunities, and unique opportunities to do things you wouldn't get to anywhere else.

Cons

Long hours, and invasive security screening process.

3.0
Jan 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of really smart and passionate people. Some teams are really interesting to work for.

Cons

Most people are thrown into a random-ish team when they first join, which can sometimes be a poor fit. It's really hard to move around to different career services. Some teams are really slow and a lot of people are self-important and difficult to work with. If you get bad management, you'll hate it there.

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