Army Times - 8AUG05 issue
An interesting article that puts the lie to what many in my unit have been telling soldiers who are getting out: "Intelligence jobs are drying up."
Granted, many jobs that require clearances aren't strictly jobs in the intelligence field. Most of them do stem from the events on and after 9/11, though. The article is a good overview of what the three levels of clearance (Confidential, Secret, Top Secret) can get you, and even touches on the two other classifications (Special Access Programs and Sensitive Compartmentalized Information) and the implications of those.
The article does state that, "According to Transition Assistance Online Link ... the top 10 defense contractors hiring security cleared personnel are:
Boeing
General Dynamics
General Electric
General Motors
Lockheed
Martin Marietta
McDonnell Douglas
Northrop Grumman
Raytheon
United Technologies"
Start early, says the article. Jobs that require a clearance pay higher than jobs that don't, says the article.
Seriously, how were the soldiers supposed to be dissuaded?
And, honestly, who can take the statement, "There will be less need for Arabic linguists in the near future," seriously? (This last was quoted not from the article, but from a senior NCO attempting to convince a junior NCO to not get out of the military. "Near future" is a paraphrase, but it referred to a period of the next two-three years, and the statement was made last year... less need for Arabic speakers by the end of 2006?)