My summer job ... nearly 20 years ago
So an interesting thing happened today. A Web site has published an article saying that I once worked for the CIA.
CNN received a call from the Web site yesterday informing us that they were going to publish this story. They didn't have all their facts straight, and I've received some questions about it, so I decided to just write this blog post, hoping to get the facts out there.
As a college student, I had a number of summer jobs and internships, including working at the CIA. Keep in mind, we are talking about nearly 20 years ago. The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian" was on the radio. I was 19 years old, and like many college students was curious about a variety of careers.
There was a flyer for the CIA in my college career counseling office, and I applied for a summer job. I was a political science major and was interested in serving my country.
For a couple months over the course of two summers, I worked at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. There are reporters who've been in the military, others who've interned on Capitol Hill while they were in college.
I know the CIA may sound more exotic and mysterious, but it was actually pretty bureaucratic and mundane, at least the little bit that I saw of it. By the end of the second summer, I realized it was not a place I wanted to work after college.
I've told all my employers about it over the years, but have chosen not to talk about it publicly. When I began to travel overseas to war zones as a reporter, I realized that some Jihadist might not understand that what people do for summer jobs in college doesn't mean they make a career out of it.
Oh, yeah, in case you're interested, after I graduated college, I briefly worked as a waiter, but I decided not to make a career out of that job either.