Lateral Transfer from SWO to Intelligence

[NickWT]

Hello all,

I am currently in the process of applying to be a Navy intelligence officer. My recruiter was straight up with me and warned me that my chances of getting intel are fairly low, given the nature of intelligence and the fact that I have no prior military experience. I have a B.A. in History from Ithaca College with a 3.9 GPA, and some leadership experience as an RA at my school for two years, and as the head counselor at summer camp at which I have been working for the past six years. My OAR score was 57. 1330 on the SAT.

My recruiter recommended that I apply for both intel and SWO, so if I am not selected for intel I could be a SWO then laterally transfer into intel at some point in my career. However, my initial thought if I wasn't selected was to go to graduate school to get a master's degree while also trying to get a job as an intel specialist in the reserves while I'm going to school (preferably the Naval Reserves, but a different branch if necessary). Then I could reapply in a couple years with a better resume.

So I was wondering: does anyone have any insight on how easy it is to "laterally transfer into intel"? My recruiter made it sound like a fairly simple process, but some navy friends I have (enlisted) warned me not to blindly accept everything my recruiters tell me. I have nothing against SWO, but my career goal is to end up in intel. I am willing to do my time in a non-intel field if that means getting into intel later, but I don't want to end up getting stuck somewhere else if laterally transferring isn't as easy as it sounds.

Secondly, if I do end up going to grad school and doing the reserves, does anyone have any suggestions for degrees that the intel community is looking for? I know that computer sciences and other STEM degrees are probably good, but as my bachelor's is in history, I don't know if I will be able to suddenly jump to a tech degree.

Any insight anyone could provide into any of my questions would be great.

-Nick

 

[Hair Warrior]

A friend of mine did a SWO to Intel lat transfer about 10 yrs ago on active duty. He's now an O4 and just went Reserve. It took him 3 tries and a great deal of personal maneuvering. He didn't recommend it. But he's got two warfare pins and is a better sailor because of it.

I will let others gauge your chances, but I think enlisting as an IS in the Navy Reserve while you also pursue a grad degree is an admirable goal.

Be aware: an officer recruiter told me that, if you enlist, you will probably have to do "several" years before they will look at you for OCS or another officer accession program.

UMUC, AMU, and Norwich all offer cost-effective online master's degrees in intelligence studies. The IWC also likes to see STEM master's degrees.

 

[BigRed389]

Well, your recruiter's not lying to you, but it's certainly not a given either.

Working in your favor is that Intel likes to pick up URL community types (as opposed to say...Medical Corps) in the lat transfer boards (they meet twice a year) because they have experience in the areas they'll support.

Working against you?
You need to stand out from every other Joe applying to transfer into Intel as well.
Ideally, that means trying to pick up some Intel community experience along the way. As a URL, that isn't easy until later in your career. As a SWO, the best opportunity to do that would be at the 4 yr mark, when you might be able to go work at ONI or other intel activities as you come off your ship tours.

As far as your chances, it changes year to year, but you can pull up the lat transfer board results for the past 4 boards and see how many people have been selected each time (including what designator they were).

 

[Brett327]

Tell us why you want to be an intel officer? What about the job appeals to you?

 

[Flash]

...But he's got two warfare pins and is a better sailor because of it.

Not really, I would never call an IDC pin a 'warfare' pin. Much to many IW folks disappointment they are still not URL's.

I will let others gauge your chances, but I think enlisting as an IS in the Navy Reserve while you also pursue a grad degree is an admirable goal.

Be aware: an officer recruiter told me that, if you enlist, you will probably have to do "several" years before they will look at you for OCS or another officer accession program.

An admirable goal maybe but one that would likely be harder to make it as an officer than just becoming an officer to start with.

As for the actual transition, I knew several of my classmates who did well as SWO's and were able to transition to Intel or Crypto without too much difficulty since ROTC and Academy folks couldn't go straight into those designators after commissioning after the mid-90's. My recommendation, go SWO and do well then try for the transition.

 

[Hair Warrior]

Not really, I would never call an IDC pin a 'warfare' pin. Much to many IW folks disappointment they are still not URL's.

Understood sir. By saying to me he "is a better sailor because of it" he meant the 2 years he spent overcoming red tape, working through lat x-fer administrivia (which can be frustrating), and forcing himself to truly consider why he wanted to stay Navy. Not because he wears two pins.

I guess he had a harder time lat transferring than others. Needs of the Navy, and lucky/unlucky timing, I suppose.

 

[NickWT]

Tell us why you want to be an intel officer? What about the job appeals to you?

As a history major my focus was twentieth century American history. After writing far too many papers on various American military/intelligence operations and pouring over CIA documents for hours on end I kind of fell in love with intel - at least the perception of intel I got from my studies, which is obviously a limited perception. Regardless, by the time I graduated my career goal switched from simply being a history professor to going into intelligence in some form. Further, I believe my skill set matches up well with the skills needed for intelligence - from all the research I've done I have become quite adept at quickly analyzing a ton of information, finding out what is important, and communicating it, verbally or in written form, in a clear and concise manner - so I think I have the potential to do well in the field with training.

Tack onto that, I come from a family full of military/law enforcement, so I have always been interested in serving in some way myself.

Thank you for all of the input thus far.

 

[azguy]

It's been said many times, but Navy Intel is not, NOT, what most people think of when they hear the term "intel." I'd encourage you to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a naval intelligence officer before you embark on that path.

I've seen both sides of this and while it's no fun crawling around the main engine room preparing for an inspection (my worst experience as a SWO), I'd much rather suck that up to be a SWO than endure a career as an intel officer in the Navy.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

It's been said many times, but Navy Intel is not, NOT, what most people think of when they hear the term "intel." I'd encourage you to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a naval intelligence officer before you embark on that path.

I've seen both sides of this and while it's no fun crawling around the main engine room preparing for an inspection (my worst experience as a SWO), I'd much rather suck that up to be a SWO than endure a career as an intel officer in the Navy.

If you had been crawling around in my engine room you would have had a great time, my engine room was clean!

 

[Flash]

I've seen both sides of this and while it's no fun crawling around the main engine room preparing for an inspection (my worst experience as a SWO), I'd much rather suck that up to be a SWO than endure a career as an intel officer in the Navy.

Wow, SWO's really are warped.

 

[Brett327]

Wow, SWO's really are warped.

But we already knew this.

 

[HH-60H]

It's been said many times, but Navy Intel is not, NOT, what most people think of when they hear the term "intel."

I would clarify this to say, "being a Navy intelligence officer."

 

[Flash]

It's been said many times, but Navy Intel is not, NOT, what most people think of when they hear the term "intel." I'd encourage you to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a naval intelligence officer before you embark on that path.

No, it isn't but it also isn't just sitting at a desk and making .ppt presentations for the squadron or the Admiral. There are many things that an Intel officer can do in the Navy, especially after their first tour, that aren't evident to folks who don't deal with them out in the fleet.

It ain't Jason Bourne but it also isn't Office Space, at least all of the time.

 

[azguy]

No, it isn't but it also isn't just sitting at a desk and making .ppt presentations for the squadron or the Admiral. There are many things that an Intel officer can do in the Navy, especially after their first tour, that aren't evident to folks who don't deal with them out in the fleet.

It ain't Jason Bourne but it also isn't Office Space, at least all of the time.

My point to the OP is that IntelO is a fairly misunderstood job. I'm not saying it's 20 straight years of .ppts and briefing, but there's a lot more of that than riding shotgun with a SEAL team.

 

[Hair Warrior]

I spoke to an 1835 ENS a couple days ago... and I can't wait to do some of the cool shit that they have Navy intel JOs doing these days.