CIA’s naturalized citizen officers work in every directorate and hold a wide range of positions within the Agency. We interviewed a Directorate of Digital Innovation officer from East Asia, who taps into his native language skills to support CIA’s global mission. He shared his path to America and, ultimately, CIA.
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As a kid growing up in East Asia, Paul knew his father worked for the U.S. Government. He did not know that the government job was for CIA until his father brought home a retirement plaque with the Agency seal on it. Paul’s father, a private man who did not talk much about his work or past, had been a foreign language officer with CIA for 33 years. Looking back, he recalls that learning about his father’s CIA career was a major factor in shaping his own career plans.
Paul’s family immigrated to the United States when he was 14-years-old. “I didn’t know what to expect. People don’t always realize that the U.S. is a very big and diverse country. On the West Coast, where my family settled, there is a strong Asian cultural component given the generations of Asian immigrants who put roots down there.”
Grasping the English language and adjusting to American culture were a struggle at first. “I came here to start the 9th grade. I already spoke some English because it’s taught in grade school where I’m from, but the English classes didn’t always match up to American conversational speech. No one would teach how to respond to ‘What’s up?’ That took me a while to figure out! Also, I remember having a Spanish language class on my first day of school in America. It was a lot to handle – taking in Spanish when I was trying to understand English, adjusting to a completely different education system, navigating a new culture, adolescence, and living in a new city.”
When Paul first broached the idea of becoming a CIA linguist to his mother, she urged him to go into the field of medicine. “She had her own clinic in our hometown before we came to the U.S., and you could say practicing medicine was something of a family tradition,” he explained. He enrolled in the pre-med program at his university, but it didn’t take long to realize it was not his passion. Paul’s desire to serve his country and follow in his father’s footsteps drew him to the Agency.
One day, he looked up what it would take to join CIA and switched his major to International Relations. He wanted to give something back to the U.S.
After becoming a U.S. citizen, Paul applied to the Agency during his junior year of college, kept in touch with a CIA recruiter, and the rest is history. “If I didn’t know anyone working for CIA, I would have never applied. CIA is often thought of as this mythical organization that I doubt many people—much less an immigrant—think they can join. The fact that I know my father worked for CIA made the Agency seem more personable and accessible. A common person like me could join.”
He entered on duty at the Agency in the early 2000s. Extra language training at CIA’s Intelligence Language Institute (ILI) leveled up his native language fluency on technical issues. Fresh out of college, his language skills were valuable to CIA’s mission and allowed him to help colleagues tackle critical intelligence challenges.
“My interest in military affairs actually got me my dream job at CIA,” he shared. “Growing up, I was a bit of a military fan. I loved reading about military history and weapons. I remember my father getting us tickets to do a tour aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. It was my first time seeing an aircraft carrier in real life after having read so much about it and having watched Top Gun a few times.”
Now, two decades in to his Agency career, he has used his cultural understanding and language expertise on a near-daily basis. Even a basic understanding of foreign languages helps CIA officers gain insight into the cultures and countries we work with. The self-proclaimed foodie points out that “one of the benefits of working for CIA is getting to travel and enjoy different food scenes around the world.”
Over the years, Paul has seen first-hand how CIA has closed intelligence gaps with the help of foreign language officers. “I was supporting a couple of operations that required me to use my regional knowledge and my language skills in real-time. I had the opportunity to brief our findings to senior leaders, including the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and discussed broader intelligence issues with collectors. The accuracy of our intelligence products is critical to maintaining the trust of U.S. decision-makers who rely on us. We spend a lot of effort, sometimes risking human lives, to collect such intelligence.”
Apart from the what Paul describes as the “fun and fast-paced” highlights of his work, he underscored the patient and deliberative approach that epitomizes the Agency. In this regard, his upbringing helped prepare him for CIA. “When I was a kid, my parents instilled in me the values of hard work and perseverance, passed down through my family over generations. They made me study hard and tutored me in a third language on Saturdays, which was a bit painful. In hindsight, this experience helped me at CIA. Here, we often need to do things that require focus and persistence over many years, even decades. There are some ‘instant gratification’ moments, but the biggest CIA successes have come from not giving up easily.”
His experience as an immigrant turned CIA officer gives him a unique perspective on the Agency’s diversity. “I don’t know if there is another intelligence service in the world that accepts naturalized citizens as intelligence professionals who perform critical roles and are considered equal to native-born citizens. It is the strength of our nation. Officers come from all kinds of backgrounds, have diverse experiences and skill-sets, and are bringing the best solutions to the table to tackle problems in an increasingly complex world. The essence of our business is that we encounter people from drastically different countries and cultures. Our naturalized officers help navigate that human landscape.”
“I must say, I hope more Asian Americans would consider joining CIA. I would say that joining the Agency is a privilege and success that few can enjoy. Some might even think of CIA as some exclusive club that only looks for certain types of people, but we need different types of people to give us the best ideas to safeguard the nation. Plus, we would probably benefit from having more Asian Americans to help us blend in overseas.”
As for his parents, they’re proud of his CIA career. “They’re glad I found a job right out of school because I graduated in the early 2000s when the dot-com bubble burst. A lot of people who studied computer subjects couldn’t find jobs because tech companies weren’t hiring then.” With a laugh, he adds, “Mostly, my parents are just glad I have a steady job with a pretty good income.”
*We have changed the officer’s name in this story to protect his identity.