The Scholar-in-Residence program is the Central Intelligence Agency’s current channel for identifying and recruiting potential intelligence officers at American universities. Per John Kiriakou, it operates today at every major American university, with officers placed for several-year residencies as openly-identified “CIA Scholar in Residence” professors.[1][2]
The 1993 break
Before the 1993 Equal Employment Opportunity Act, recruitment was direct and undisclosed: “They could just say, ‘Hey, don’t tell anybody — CIA — you want in? You want in?’ And then you know you have to pass the test of course, but then you’re in. Can’t do that since ‘93, but they found a way around it recently.”[3][1]
How the program works
Per Kiriakou’s example: “Let’s say you’re from Pittsburgh and you’re going to retire in three years. They say, ‘Listen, instead of retiring, why don’t you move to Pittsburgh — we’ll get you a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh. You teach a class in, you know, the history of KGB operations in Armenia. And if you see anybody on the QT, let us know and we’ll reach out to them.’ So that’s the way they do it now. They have professors all over America at every major university and they’re like CIA officer scholar in residence. So everybody knows you’re CIA. They’re still doing what they have always done — but now it’s out in the open instead of a secret.”[1][2]
See also
- Asset acquisition cycle
- Gerald Post — Kiriakou’s recruiting professor; a 1980s example of the predecessor practice