A fun place to be, but don't make it a career. - Intelligence Analyst CIA Employee Review

2.0
3 Dec 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Absolutely a sense of mission with some really motivated people. Some very cool jobs available. You feel your job is very important, and that you're really doing something that matters. Absolutely no chance of getting fired unless you do something horrible like racially or sexually harass someone. If you want a 30-year employers with many different types of jobs, CIA is great.

Cons

Many levels of management are almost uniformly awful. All levels of employees are constantly sent to BS training courses. Managers seem to spend half their time in management training courses which are clearly counter productive. Bureaucracy as expected of any federal government agency. The absolute worst thing for me was that the best and the worst employees were treated exactly the same in many cases. Same salary, same job titles, same seniority. Need a way to weed out horrible employees.

Explore other reviews about CIA

5.0
1 June 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
4 Jan 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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