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The Pat Roberts
Intelligence Scholars Program: FAQs
By Paul J Nuti (Director of External, International and Governmental Relations)
What is the purpose of PRISP?
PRISP is intended to help the individual components (15 separate intelligence
agencies) of the US Intelligence Community recruit and develop new analysts
possessing critical linguistic or scientific skills.
When was PRISP established and for how long?
PRISP was established as a pilot program via the Intelligence Authorization
Act for FY2004 (Congressional bill HR 2417) which was signed into law in December
2003. The program is authorized to run through FY2006, but is presently funded
through FY2005.
Who is eligible to participate in PRISP?
PRISP accepts applications from undergraduate students, graduate students and
new hires within the intelligence community, as well as individuals in the private
sector. All PRISP candidates must be able to obtain security clearances before
acceptance into the program.
How does the program work?
Component intelligence agencies within the US Intelligence Community specify
needs for personnel with critical skills. PRISP fields applications, identifies
possible matches and refers candidates to intelligence components for review
and selection. Selected participants fall into one of three categories and are
offered varying scholarship or stipend benefits:
Category #1: new hires or individuals in the private sector already
possessing the requested critical skills are available for immediate hire and
offered tuition or loan paybacks or signing bonuses;
Category #2: new hires with less than 18 months of government service
who do not yet possess the requested critical skills are eligible for up to
two years of additional schooling in critical skill areas and offered tuition
support for this; or
Category #3: students still in school are offered tuition support if
they commit to accepting a position upon graduation.
What are the basic terms of the scholarship?
In exchange for scholarship and stipend benefits of $25,000 a year with a maximum
of $50,000 over two years, PRISP participants commit to serve as an intelligence
analyst in a component intelligence agency for a period of time equal to 1.5
times the scholarship or stipend period.
What is meant by “critical skills?”
“Critical skills” are skill areas determined and designated by component intelligence
agencies in which the current analytical capabilities of the intelligence community
are deficient, or in which future analytic capabilities of the intelligence
community are likely to be deficient, such as language expertise, geospatial
mapping or satellite imagery analysis or methodological skills in leadership
analysis and assessment of how countries deploy technology.
Does PRISP specifically target students of anthropology for recruitment?
There is no targeted recruitment of any kind.
How are academic programs for PRISP participants selected?
Individuals interested in PRISP are responsible for identifying and choosing
academic programs of study to pursue, based on the extent to which these programs
enable participants to become proficient in critical skills designated by component
intelligence agencies. There is no master list of approved programs of study
or universities. Approval of the program is directly linked to how the program
will develop critical skills in the employee or student.
Is it possible for PRISP participants to be simultaneously enrolled in an
academic program of study and employed by one of the component intelligence
agencies?
PRISP participants in categories #2 and #3 (above) are expected to pursue full-time
academic programs of study. Therefore, while a category #2 PRISP participant
is indeed affiliated with a particular component intelligence agency, he or
she does not work for the agency while pursuing studies. In rare cases, a part-time
study and part-time employment arrangement can be made.
What positions or placements do PRISP participants move into via the program?
The program is explicitly mandated in the authorizing legislation to recruit
for and train intelligence analysts, 90–95% of whom will be based in the headquarters
of a component intelligence agency. The program does not recruit for and train
intelligence operations officers, positions that are by definition, covert.
Intelligence analyst positions are not covert. As analysts or analysts-in-training,
PRISP participants would manage and produce intelligence on regional, transnational,
scientific and technical, missile and medical topics. Key functions include
conducting research and gathering information, identifying intelligence gaps,
interpreting and evaluating information from multiple sources, monitoring trends
and events related to a particular country or issue, and preparing written and
oral assessments based on current events.
While PRISP participants are on campus pursuing academic programs of study
in critical skill areas, are they forbidden by the PRISP to disclose their intelligence
affiliations and roles?
There is no central PRISP policy requirement or regulation that forbids PRISP
students from disclosing their affiliations and roles with intelligence agencies.
The decentralized nature of the program is such that individual component intelligence
agencies maintain their own policies on disclosure; some require that PRISP
students do not disclose while some do not and leave the matter to the discretion
of the student. At the same time, component agencies that do not forbid disclosure
would likely advise participants to exercise prudence in disclosing their affiliations
and roles primarily because identification may invite harassment. In addition,
there is no publicly available list of PRISP participants nor are the names
of PRISP participants routinely disseminated by the program.
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