<p>My $.02 is that you shouldn’t pass over a chance to serve in the Peace Corps on the chance that you might work for an intelligence agency in the future. The hiring process for just about any intelligence agency is long and uncertain and there are absolutely no guarantees that you will actually be hired. Any number of things in your application or security clearance can stop a candidacy dead in its tracks, and hiring may go in spurts and may or may not work out with your circumstances. So, if you give up the opportunity to do Peace Corps now, you’d be giving up a concrete opportunity to grasp at shadows in the future. </p>
<p>If you want to serve in the Peace Corps, then go for it and let the future sort itself out. Like others have posted, you’re not out of the running for an intelligence job for good, just for a few years. So, file the info away for future reference when applying for post Peace Corps employment, but don’t give up the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps for a future possibility that is so uncertain.</p>