Also called: Diplomatic Security SEO, Foreign Service Security Engineer
A Foreign Service engineer who protects U.S. embassies from spying by installing security systems and sweeping for hidden bugs.
SEOs live overseas on two- or three-year tours, maintaining alarms, cameras and access controls at embassies and ambassadors' homes. They sweep offices for listening devices, check equipment shipped from the U.S. so no one tampers with it, and travel to smaller posts in their region. Every tour means a new country.
Foreign Service specialist pay plus overseas housing and hardship allowances. Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 5 years after high school. Bachelor's in electrical, computer, or similar engineering; must pass Foreign Service specialist hiring and a top-secret clearance.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Engineering Technology.
Growing about average. Hiring depends on State Department budgets (approx.).
Low risk for 10 years. Smart sensors help, but sweeping for bugs and protecting embassies abroad stays hands-on and human.
Classes: AP Physics, Electronics or robotics, A foreign language.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2072.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.