A Look at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Hiring Process

We have previously covered the hiring process for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Another intelligence agency not as well known is the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) whose hiring process is similar to that of the CIA and NSA. Applicants must be able to obtain a Top-Secret (TS) security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). Pre-employment testing and drug screening are standard, along with a limited-scope polygraph. Depending on the position, a vision and medical screening may be required.

The NGA operates behind the scenes, providing imagery and geospatial information and intelligence to the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Secret Service, Department of the Interior, and other intelligence agencies. The NGA Products and Services site showcases some of the amazing unclassified things they work on, however, access is restricted to certain agencies and holders of CAC/PIV badges.

The NGA is based in three locations: Springfield, VA, St. Louis, MO, and Denver, CO. They are a small agency as far as the number of Federal employees, but their contractor workforce spans across the globe. Some of the companies that perform work on contracts for the NGA are Maxar Intelligence, Parsons Govt. Services, Lockheed Martin, Scale AI, BAE Systems, Booze Allen Hamilton, Blue Tech, and Leidos just to name a few. These contractors also must go through the TS/SCI security clearance vetting process before being allowed to work on the NGA contracts.