A recent job posting by a government contractor for an instructor position at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy stated "no education required."
When Dr. John Lenczowski, Founder and President of The Institute of World Politics, saw the posting, he wrote and circulated a critique of professional intelligence education and training, emphasizing the complexities of counterintelligence and the need for a rigorous educational preparation rooted in the various liberal arts.
His email was the subject of a recent post on the well-known CQ Politics blog, which is published by Congressional Quarterly. Dr. Lenczowski's list of minimum requirements for a professional understanding counterintelligence included:
"The history of counterintelligence, not only in the U.S. but in other countries;
"All the dimensions of counterintelligence;
"That counterintelligence, therefore, must be conducted not just at the tactical, gumshoe, spy-catching level, but at the national political-strategic level.
"The epistemological issues surrounding intelligence, including sensitivity to our own intellectual and cultural biases, the perceptions management efforts of foreign powers, the techniques and themes of strategic deception; etc.
"The entire profession of intelligence and how it is conducted not only by us but by foreign intelligence services. But this, in turn, requires knowledge of:
"The political and strategic cultures of foreign powers. But this, in turn, requires in-depth knowledge of:
"The languages of those foreign powers;
"Finally, the categories and methods of counterintelligence analysis. "