DIA/MSIC-Summer Internship Program 2026

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE CONTENT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
DIA provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities, as appropriate. Please contact our Human Resources Operations Center (HROC) at 202-231-4762 or DSN 428-4762 if you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process.

CONTACT INFORMATION
This vacancy announcement will close at 11:59 PM (EST) on Saturday, March 1, 2025. All applicants must apply online for this event in order to receive consideration.  If you need technical assistance with your application, please contact our support center at (202) 231-8000.

OVERVIEW
DIA’s Summer Internship Program provides current students the opportunity to gain practical work experience through research, report writing, briefing development and delivery, policy writing, and intelligence analysis.

This vacancy announcement will be used to identify applicants to support the Analysis Career Field career field during Summer 2026.  The Analysis Career Field career field is one of 12 within the Defense Intelligence Agency. To explore this and other career fields, please see (dia.mil) Careers & Opportunities > Career Fields.

WHO CAN APPLY
This announcement is for external applicants (non-DIA) only. Military and contractor personnel are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet the agency’s conditions of employment, to include, but not limited to:

- Must be a U.S. citizen at the time of application;
- Are subject to an initial background investigation and periodic reinvestigation;
- Are subject to an initial and periodic counterintelligence-scope polygraph tests;
- Are subject to initial and random drug testing. (Important Note: Drug testing cannot be conducted outside the continental U.S.)

Applicants should not apply to this program if they are studying or working abroad 3-9 months (August 2025-Febuary 2026) prior to May 2026.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Selected applicants are financially obligated for travel, housing, and lodging accommodations to the location of this vacancy announcement. Selected applicants will not be eligible for health insurance, life insurance, and Federal Employee’s Retirement System.   

Eligible applicants must meet the following requirements:

- Must be available to complete a 10–12-week internship from June through August;
- Enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program;
- Attending a U.S. accredited educational institution;
- Possess a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale at the time of application and employment;
- Completed a minimum of 60 semester hours or equivalent at the time of employment;
- 2025 graduates are not eligible for the program.

POSITION SUMMARY
ANALYSIS CAREER FIELD

Officers in the Analysis Career Field serve at the heart of DIA’s global mission. Analysis Officers provide cutting-edge analysis from locations around the world on foreign military capabilities and defense issues in support of our nation’s warfighters, policymakers, and defense planners. Through written products, in-person briefings, or multimedia presentations, their work informs tactical decisions of policy, defense strategy, weapons development and acquisition, and military planning.

Analysis officers come from diverse backgrounds and can look forward to careers of rewarding training, advanced education opportunities, and challenging assignments with DIA and the Intelligence Community.

The below qualities are critical for success as an analyst at DIA:

- Professional Humility: The willingness to change assumptions and conclusions in the face of new evidence, to respect and account for differing perspectives and ideas, and to welcome candid feedback.
- Steadfast Integrity: The commitment to professionalism and honesty, accuracy and transparency, and excellence and mission.
- Intellectual Curiosity: The drive to seek out new experiences, knowledge, insights, and expertise.
- Critical Consideration: The determination to consult, weigh, and synthesize all available information and sources in developing insights, judgments, and assessments and identifying information gaps.
- Constructive Collaboration: The ability to contribute to a dynamic team environment and work through disagreements to reach new insights.
- Clear Communication: The ability to articulate complicated concepts and ideas both concisely and comprehensively.

DIA often hires interns with STEM and non-STEM degrees and backgrounds with expertise in a variety of mission areas, including:

- Defense-related topics such as military capabilities and strategy; terrorism; weapons systems and proliferation; illicit trafficking; energy; telecommunications and logistics infrastructure; underground facilities; defense economics/industry; emerging and disruptive technologies; and supply chain risk management.
- Combatant command functional areas of responsibility (e.g., space, special operations, strategic, transportation, cyberspace).
- Geographic or regional knowledge (e.g., military, social, political, or cultural expertise).
- Structured methodological approaches to organize data and model probabilities, natural language processing techniques, or statistics tools.
- STEM fields such as physics, mathematics, applied statistics, computer science, data science, chemistry, biology, toxicology, and engineering disciplines including electrical, mechanical, nuclear, aerospace, chemical, computer, general, or modeling and simulation.

STEM officers in the Analysis Career Field include scientists, engineers, and data professionals involved in researching information from multiple sources from which they gain insights to convey intelligence assessments in a manner most appropriate for intelligence consumers. Officers scientifically and technologically assess advanced weapons and capabilities; and analyze emerging and disruptive technologies with military applications. Practitioners in this Career Field also lead the adaptation of artificial intelligence, data science, and other advanced analytic methodologies to ensure the Defense Intelligence All-Source Analysis Enterprise (DIAAE) produces and delivers quality products and services to defense intelligence consumers.

For this event, the ACF is especially interested in candidates with the following skills and/or backgrounds: China, Russia, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and aerospace/aeronautical engineering. Such candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

Current Positions include –
- Aerospace Engineer (0861)*
- Electronics Engineer (0855)*
- Mechanical Engineer (0830)*

Position Requirements –
The positions/occupational series listed above and identified with an asterisk are STEM must meet a positive education requirement as identified by the Office of Personnel Management. General information can be found on the Office of Personnel Management’s website at www.OPM.gov.

As part of the application process for the Analysis Career Field, applicants selected to interview will also be required to complete a timed writing assessment prior to the interview. If selected, specific details on this portion of the process will be provided via email by the Analysis Career Field in March/early April 2025. Because of this requirement, applicants must provide a personal email address. Applicants who do not provide a personal email address will be disqualified.

EVALUATION
DIA will evaluate your online application to ensure all program requirements have been met. In addition, clearly demonstrate past experience in the application of the particular competencies and abilities necessary to successfully perform the duties of the position.

Applicants selected to interview may be required to complete an online questionnaire and writing assessment.

APPLICATIONS RECEIVED
Applications must be received by MIDNIGHT (Eastern Time) of the closing date of the announcement, unless otherwise waived prior to the vacancy announcement’s closing date.

Do not submit classified information within your online application.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
Applicants are required to enter all applicable previous employment in the Work Experience section of the online application. In addition, upload the following documents under the My Activities section on the DIA job portal:

- Resume
- Transcript (Important Note: Must include your name, GPA, and educational institution name) 
- DD-214 (If applicable)
- SF50 (If applicable)

DIA only accepts Form DD-214 (Member 4, Service 2, Service 7, or Service 8), SF-15, “CERTIFICATIONS” from the Armed Forces, Department of Veterans Affairs Letters, SF-50, Curriculum Vitae, Transcripts or others as requested in the Job Opening description details.  Do not include any PII (personally identifiable information) in your attachment.

Current Federal employees (non-DIA) must also submit a copy of the SF50, notification of personnel action, that documents their appointment to or promotion to the highest grade held.

Please note the following when adding your attachments to your applicant profile:
Attachments must be less than 5 MB in size and one of the following file types: doc, docx, gif, jpeg, jpg, pdf and txt.

Once an attachment is added to a profile, it cannot be viewed or edited by the applicant.  The applicant can go to the My Activities page of their profile to see a record of documents previously submitted.

VERTERANS’ PREFERENCE
DIA applies Veterans’ Preference to preference eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 USC, in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 2005, “DCIPS Employment and Placement.”  If you are a veteran claiming veterans' preference, as defined by section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., you must provide acceptable documentation of your preference or appointment eligibility. Acceptable documentation may be:

- A copy of your DD-214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty," which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions;
- A "certification" that is a written document from the armed forces that certifies the service member is expected to be discharged or released from active-duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is signed; OR
- A Standard Form (SF-15 (PDF file)) (http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf15.pdf)), Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference.

You may obtain a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs reflecting your level of disability for preference eligibility by visiting a VA Regional Office, contacting a VA call center or online (https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/).

DIA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
DIA employees and applicants for employment are protected by federal laws, from discrimination. Employees and applicants are also protected against retaliation. Consistent with federal laws, acts of retaliation against an employee who engages in a protected activity, whistle blowing, or the exercise of any appeal or grievance right provided by law, will not be tolerated.

CIVILIAN MOBILITY STATEMENT
All DIA employees are subject to world-wide deployment to crisis situations and may be required to serve anywhere in the world.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
All employees are required to sign an agreement not to disclose, in any fashion, classified information to unauthorized persons.  An agreement is also required to authorize agency pre-publication review of certain material prior to disclosure during and after employment with DIA.

Employees must participate in the DoD Direct Deposit/Electronic Fund Transfer of Pay (DD/EFT) Program, with net pay deposited directly into the employee's account of choice at his/her designated financial institution.

Availability for shift work, extended hours, and travel may be required for this position.

CAREER FIELD DEFINITION

(U) Student Trainee