Utah State Instructor Has Inside Look at CIA

Ever wondered what it's like to be on the inside of government intelligence? An instructor at Utah State University who worked for the CIA knows the ropes and can offer a few insights.


Jeannie Johnson, an instructor in the political science department, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency as an intelligence officer from 1998 to 1999. She was hesitant to talk about certain things about her former position and responsibilities but was able to answer a few questions.

Her job at the CIA was to read all the intelligence information that was gathered and analyze it to determine if there was something to indicate a threat. If she decided there was, she wrote up the information and passed it on to the people in power, from the president of the United States to the attorney general.

She said she enjoyed working for the CIA.

"You're in the fast track of information, and when something hits the nation you're right in the thick of it, so it's very exciting," Johnson said.

She said the only thing she didn't like about working for the CIA were the long hours and the one-hour-and-15-minute commute to work each way.

"It made it hard to have another life besides that," Johnson said.

She said one of the strengths of the CIA is that it has extremely intelligent, dedicated employees who are devoted to doing their job well. She had one friend who spoke 14 languages fluently and effortlessly.

"He was just so gifted," Johnson said. "The people work for low pay out of patriotism and work long hours. The dedication [of the CIA's employees] is its primary strength."

She said one of the weaknesses of the CIA is the lack of communication between its different departments. She said there may be five people working on the same project from different angles. Without good departmental communication, problems arise such as duplication of effort and a failure to identify correlations between different pieces of information. She also said that, starting 10 years ago, there was a big departure of highly experienced people who left the CIA due to frustration that the system was preventing them from doing their jobs.

"That institutional memory is much weakened," Johnson said.

Johnson said she is now using her experience and educational background to teach several classes at USU, including humanities, social systems and issues, introduction to international relations, comparative politics, careers and government, and Balkan politics.

Her job as an instructor at USU fulfills a different part of her than her job with the CIA.

"My job with the CIA was extremely exciting and very fast-paced," Johnson said. "Being here I would say is really fun. I enjoy teaching, and I like being with the students. It is like two halves of a coin. On one side of the coin you write for big leaders of the country, and they're kind of the controls. And on the other half of the coin you talk about the same issues, but with people who make up the democracy; they are the people who should be deciding where the vehicle gets steered."

She said she left the CIA because she only had her master's degree, wanted to further her education and started looking into doctorate programs.

"There are lots of days when I have serious twinges of 'oh man I wish I was there,' but I enjoy this life and what I am doing now. But sometimes I think 'oh to be back in the thick of it all,'" Johnson said.

Randy Simmons, department head of political science, said that Johnson's background in the CIA helped her gain important skills that contribute to what she is doing now.

"It is like having a completely practical graduate degree from a place where she actually got to employ what she learned," Simmons said. "She has analytical skills, the ability to take in a lot of information, compress it and make others understand it."


By Erin Anderson; erina@cc.usu.edu
Photo courtesy the Political Science Department Web site