New partnership to train intelligence analysts

Cedarville University students will train as intelligence analysts under a new internship partnership with the Advanced Technical Intelligence Center.

The new program will train students for 10 weeks through an analysts “boot camp” at ATIC’s campus in Beavercreek. Once they graduate from the boot camp, students will complete their training with a five-week research project on a national security issue, said Sara Collins, ATIC spokeswoman.

“There’s always going to be a demand for intelligence analysts,” Collins said.

The university has a contingent of students who could pursue careers in national law enforcement and homeland security, said Thomas S. Mach, a Cedarville history and government department chairman who worked with ATIC to reach the agreement. His department oversees criminal justice and international studies students.

“Since 9/11, there’s an increased interest by our students in those career paths,” he said.

Students must apply for a security clearance to learn about some classified national security-related topics, she said.

“If they’re granted a security clearance, they’ll be even more marketable,”she said.

One Cedarville student has enrolled in the program, although Mach said those numbers will grow to five to 10 students a year.

The center has internship programs with Indiana State University at Terre Haute and Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio. Six students have graduated from the program through Tiffin and two students at Indiana State will begin the course in January.

ATIC also a partnership with Sinclair Community College and Clark State Community College where students may earn an advanced technical intelligence certificate program.

Ninety-nine Sinclair students have earned the certificate and 66 have at Clark State, according to ATIC.

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