Sharing political views in career fields within federal government

[MrElculver2424]

I’m an undergraduate student who is intending to major in Political Science or International Politics. Political Science is sort of the umbrella field where my passions belong, but I haven’t yet picked a “subfield,” although International Relations and National Security are interests of mine.

Over time I’ve settled on the dream of working in either the federal bureaucracy (for a government agency like the CIA, NSA, etc.) or for some other group or agency that deals with world-level issues like the United Nations.

As I’ve been thinking and planning for this, I have come up with a few questions that will be critically important for me if I want to succeed in one of these fields.

1. I have been "politically active" since I was 10 years old; I've always been interested in elections and politics. I'm no brainwashed ideologue (I always seek out factual truth), but I do have a political social media presence. By that, I mean that I share things regularly on my Facebook and Twitter pages that relate to politics, and quite often they are probably seen as supporting one political party over the other, or favoring certain politicians over others, based on my views. Since I am interested in potentially pursuing a career in a government agency like the CIA, would this kind of social media activity disqualify me from being hired one day? Will they look at my social media and choose not to hire me simply because of political views that I hold and share? If so, how should I go about altering my social media activity in the future? I have built a decent Twitter audience as a result of tweeting about political things, sometimes clearly favoring one "side" over the other. I suppose I could just really slow down my political tweeting and only tweet things that do not clearly spread ideology, or that do not criticize other political viewpoints.
2. Once hired into a government agency like the CIA or NSA, etc, are agents/analysts/employees allowed to share their political views? I imagine it would be allowed, as long as the sharing of views does not prohibit the employee from doing his or her job and as long as it does not disrupt the work environment. I know that they are allowed to have social media accounts but have to be very secretive about exactly where they are or what they're doing at any given moment. But I want to know this for sure, because I want to be the best at what I set out to do. Can employees in government agencies (and I'm talking about agencies that retain employees regardless of what political administration is in power) share their political views on occasion without being in fear of losing their job?

Hoping to get some answers from people familiar with these career fields. Thank you very much!

[juillet]

Here’s an interesting NPR article about it: http://www.npr.org/2016/02/24/467933392/why-the-cia-likes-and-dislikes-social-media

Imagine a college student with normal online posting habits being recruited by the CIA because of his language, technical or other skills. If a foreign intelligence agency learned about that connection, it could access years’ worth of his photos on the open Web — making it nearly impossible to enter another country under cover. It could also find likes and dislikes, friends and other such information prized by spies.

The CIA hiring website says that employees can use social media; there are just specific guidelines they have to follow.

This CNN Money article gives some tips to students interested in the CIA: http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/13/technology/security/cia-facebook-rules/

Basically, there’s no straightforward public answer to your question, so I would say using your judgment is good here. You want to be perceived as intelligent and able to do the job given to you despite what administration you are potentially hired under. Posts that make your political standpoints clear but also are sensible and not extremist - maybe things like tweets calling for no DAPL or opining that school choice will help save public schools or that ACA should be repealed or kept to protect the health of Americans - those are probably fine in terms of getting hired in theory, although in practice if someone Googles you before your interview it could color their opinion of you. Being overly critical or negative, or sounding extremist, is not a great idea.

I’d also say to ask yourself why it’s so important for you to tweet about your political views publicly, knowing that it may have an impact (however small) on your hiring process? I tend to be more risk-averse about these things in general, but if I knew I were gunning for a job in the NSA or CIA I just wouldn’t risk it in general.

[guineagirl96]

Actually, there are restrictions on some government employees (such as department of defense employees) sharing political views with others, especially in regard to actions that may influence others in elections. The relevant legislation you’d want to look into is called the Hatch Act. Not only can you lose your job, you’d lose your clearance, and could face fines/prosecution for violating the law.

I would keep your political activities to a minimum if you are serious about wanting to work somewhere dealing with national security.

[roethlisburger]

1. Read about the Hatch Act. Federal government employees, below very senior levels, are restricted in some of their political activities.
2. Discussing your political viewpoints at work is generally considered unprofessional. What you do outside of work is usually up to you, but read the Hatch Act first.