@3kids304 Both my boys received a letter just before 18 making it very clear it was a requirement, but I had no idea till that letter arrived how serious it was and that they had to register. It seemed there was something major they wouldn’t be allowed to do (renew drivers license or something like that, not sure) if they didn’t register…perhaps someone else got it more recently than my memory allows to recall…maybe you remember 3kids304?
Oh and we did get an email from our high school on their birthday asking if they registered, but I doubt all do that and many are out of HS when they turn 18. But I thought it was good the HS did that.
Re: selective service - You most likely will get mail notification if you haven’t registered within a few months of your 18th birthday.
What was stated above about living a very clean life is very true. The psychological testing and hurdles are probably harder to cross than the intellectual and skill based hurdles. Drug use - marijuana, etc. - is often a stumbling block.
@T26E4 Wow, i didn’t think of that! I assumed she had been looking at other nation’s services for more information and to fill in any gaps in her knowledge, never once had I thought of the possibility that she maybe a traitor to the USA!
In all seriousness, I’m pretty sure she’s mature and old enough to know that not everything in movies are what actually happens in real life.
A member of my extended family studied accounting before joining the FBI. He was a serious athlete and somewhat of an adventure junkie, but family lore maintains that he was a star forensic accountant tracking money all around the globe rather than being an undercover agent.
It is a good point that security clearance can be tough to acquire. One of my kids went through it for a fairly high level of clearance, and it is exhaustive. One thing they want is a really detailed accounting of all travel abroad. Fortunately I had kept itineraries of all our family trips and her summer travels, so she could answer all thise questions. And they interview everyone – neighbors, roommates, boyfriends, even teachers. Foreign Facebook friends were also asked about. She got it, but it would be so easy to have a mis-step. I think an immature applicant (or maybe one too enamored with cloak & dagger?) might wash out, too.
Get her to read up on what the biz is really about, the hardships, not just how glamorous it sounds. Even some fiction is said to get the details right, the long, cold nights, so to say.
Sure my kids loved Harriet the Spy and the Olson twins movies.
Interesting stories on this thread. My father had whatever the top clearance is and was set to do some top secret work, then WW2 ended. My mother also couldn’t tell me the full details of part of her work, She had college friends (coincidentally, also Ivy and masters of a few foreign languages) who did work for the CIA- and from what I know about their day to day work, it was pretty boring, pretty focused on their minute part of the play, stuck in a cubicle in DC.)
Everyone thinks this is so exciting, getting to change your identity, meet with informants, hang out at the spy bar like in Le Carre novels. Dodge the people chasing you in the casbah, like Carrie Mathison in Homeland. The reality is it takes thousands of people and most of them are in offices.
If the point is more to work with the movers and shakers, be part of govt negotiations, policy research and decision-making, be an insider, that’s not “spy.”
This may sound odd, we don’t know her as you do. But if she is smart and can work hard, focus, research and self-edit, if she does have lots of disparate interests- that sort of curiosity plus the ability to hone in , accurately- maybe that serves her well in another way: maybe this thing about being intrigued with intrigue and wild-a** ideas suggests she could work toward being…a writer, spy fiction. It’snot easy, but works for some. Wrangle all those interests in another way.
We have a family friend who is in her mid twenties who works for the DOD and is stationed overseas in a place we can’t know (though I would suspect Afghanistan or Iraq). There is incredible secrecy, she has wiped herself from social media, has a code name / safe word she uses when she calls her parents, etc. She went to Vanderbilt and is incredibly smart and has a go-getter, problem-solving personality. She’s doing some pretty big stuff; we just won’t know til years from now.
My kid with the clearance worked in a very interesting job at an interesting juncture in history. She won’t share a peep – not sure if she ever will be able to. It was an internship, so short-lived. I think it would get old and be hard on relationships to have to keep so much secret from your family.
^^ Exactly. They will find you. I was approached out of the blue years ago by them. Don’t count on checking the box to get your application in. It’s all in the luck of the draw. And the reality of the work is more tedium than excitement.
Good point - the FBI asked me questions to vet the young lady I’m talking about. They asked me about her loyalty to the U.S., had she made boyfriends when she studied abroad in college, etc.
@mellybeller, both the NSA and CIA have undergraduate internship programs, so your daughter will be able to test her interest once in college, supposing acceptance to the program, of course.
@3kids304 - Hey thanks on the SSS registration. My son did not receive any kind of reminder, whether by mail, email or high school. Oops! Well, I’m sure my spaced out 18 year old will not be the first to be a few months late.
OP - Lots of people dream and obsess about doing things. Some are able to fulfill those dreams, and then move on. Others never get there. And some do really find their dream occupations and do them their whole lives. I don’t know if you are worried, or just wondering how this might work, but if my kid was dedicated to learning about a particular profession instead of reading fan fiction, I would be thrilled.
Thanks for all these great responses! I’ve chatted to her about it and she definitely understands that becoming a spy isn’t as glamorous as James Bond or anything like that but in her eyes, its the closest thing she can have to an ‘Interesting’ and fast paced job
When I asked her her motives she, again, told me that she wanted to do something where she could travel alot and do interesting things but, as I’ve told her about the mental health aspect she looked kind of worried- like the time she saw the height requirement for astronaut, as she has a condition that completely wrecks havoc on her hormones. She’s physically fit but due to her condition she has medicines and pills she has to take which probably decreases her chance into getting into the military.
So this probably is something that isn’t going to pan out in the long run as the Arabic music has stopped but hopefully she finds something else she might be interested in.
I have not read all of the posts here, but know a fair amount about this area. You need to have something like a 3.75 GPA just to be considered for the jobs, and the NSA internships are EXTREMELY competitive. There is a very significant background check that goes into hiring for the jobs. Sometimes they have virtual career fairs in the fall, so you may want to look for that. The goals or mission or whatever of the different agencies are different, but I don’t know them all. I have often said one of my kids should think about that direction, but turns out his GPA isn’t high enough. Plus, I’d be worried about him ALL THE TIME (so what’s new, right?), so it’s just as well.
I guess I just wanted another parents perspective as I’m not as well versed in the area of intelligence as I am with the other more common professions. I am a little worried on her aiming too high and the fall would be in proportion to that. Well here’s to hoping this didn’t end up in flames and turn into ‘The Astronaut phase: Part 2’
I have always been very grateful she hasn’t been shooed in to the wrong crowd or stuck inside her room reading fan fiction all day but Jesus Christ are hobbies strange and expensive! We generally let her do what she wants but wingsuit flying?