Students Play CIA

By Broadside Correspondent Yasmin Tadjdeh

Students looking to work with the Central Intelligence Agency were given a unique opportunity to see what the often-misunderstood job is like in real life last week. In a CIA simulation on April 22, students played the part of an analyst in the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence.

The simulation, set on the day of Feb. 11, 2010, the three-hour simulation revolved around a fictional attack on the Haluk oil export terminal in the Middle Eastern country of “Kulah.” Students were given a booklet with classified documents that they had to sift through and then deduce which information was relevant and which was not in finding who had orchestrated the attack. When the students were finished analyzing, they were to present briefs to the president and his advisers regarding their findings.

Alan More, former CIA- analyst and manager in the Office of Transnational Issues and current professor in the New Century College, was one of the coordinators of the CIA simulation game. He called the event an “outreach” to potential employees of the CIA and government. Through the game, he wanted to show the analytical side of the CIA and have the game “reflect what people do in real life.”

When asked what she hoped to gain from the simulation, graduate public policy student Katherine Hild said she was “trying to understand the field, and possibly get an internship.” The event also served as a way for students to network and be recruited for a job within the government.

To participate in the game, students needed to apply in advance and have a minimum 3.0 GPA. Admission was then allotted in a first come, first served fashion with only 30 slots available.

Through the game, More hoped to shed light on the real demands of working at the CIA. According to the CIA website, “OTI analysts with expertise in international energy, trade and finance support senior officials responding to developments that could affect U.S. energy security, the stability of international markets and downturns in the economies of countries of concern.” As a former CIA-analyst, More worked on various cases and notably during the Rwandan genocide.

Economics graduate student Fernando Menedez said that “[the exercise was] a great opportunity to meet other students interested in this field, [as well as] a great chance to establish contacts with folks from the agency” and that it was an “opportunity to ask the kinds of questions you don’t [get] to ask when you’re interviewing for a position.”

A week before the simulation, the Office of Transnational Issues hosted a similar simulation for geographic science majors. Participating students were given a fictional scenario and according to More, “the geospatial game highlighted how quantitative and geospatial analysis can make the difference in interpreting many conflicting reports, giving students in technical fields a chance to experience life as an analyst at the CIA.”

Both simulations were well-received among the students, and More hopes that many of the participants will apply for jobs within the government.