Also called: Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, All-source analyst
Civilian analyst who studies foreign militaries and writes assessments for policymakers and commanders.
Analysts read classified and open-source reports, build databases of foreign weapons and units, and write short, tight assessments. Some specialize in a country; others in missiles, biology, or economics. Many are former military analysts who kept their clearance.
Federal GS-9 to GS-15 pay scale with D.C.-area locality pay; estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's degree (master's common); U.S. citizenship and Top Secret clearance.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, Military. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: International Relations, Political Science, Regional Studies, Data Science.
Growing about average. No BLS category for intelligence analysts; hiring follows federal budgets.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. AI drafts assessments and builds weapon databases from reports; fewer junior analysts, humans own the judgment.
Classes: World history, Government / Civics, A foreign language, Statistics.
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.