Intelligence Operations Specialist

Organizational Location: This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Intelligence, National Border Security Intelligence Center Directorate, Northeast Regional Intelligence Center located in one of the following locations:

• Boston, Massachusetts
• Buffalo, New York
• New York, New York

This announcement will be open for 5 business days OR until the first 100 applications have been received, whichever happens first.

Qualifications:

Experience: You qualify for the GS-13 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as:

• Serving as a senior reviewer of an intelligence organizations HUMINT information and operations reporting to evaluate, discuss, test, and validate intelligence research reports, and intelligence collection programs, plans;
• Liaising with other federal, state and local agencies to collaborate on intelligence sharing, drafting, and dissemination of intelligence reporting derived from HUMINT sources;
• Recognizing intelligence requirements based on the common intelligence picture, threat templates, and threat organizational and functional structures to provide evaluations on current information to improve future intelligence collection or reporting;
• Extrapolating, compiling, and processing information from raw intelligence, open source, law enforcement and intelligence community systems and databases;
• Developing methods of evaluating the validity, accuracy, and reliability of a broad array and high volume of information

NOTE: Your resume must explicitly indicate how you meet this requirement, otherwise you will be found ineligible. Please see the "Required Documents" section below for additional resume requirements.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

You must:

• Meet all qualification requirements, including education if applicable to this position, subject to verification at any stage of the application process; and
• Meet all applicable Time in Grade requirements (current federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the federal service) by 06/09/2026.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Background Investigation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency that requires all applicants to undergo a thorough background investigation prior to employment in order to promote the agency's core values of vigilance, service to country, and integrity. During the screening and/or background investigation process, you will be asked questions regarding any felony criminal convictions or current felony charges, the use of illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, ecstasy), and the use of non-prescribed controlled substances including any experimentation, possession, sale, receipt, manufacture, cultivation, production, transfer, shipping, trafficking, or distribution of controlled substances. For additional information on the preemployment process, review the following link: Applicant Resources | CBP Careers

Residency: There is a residency requirement for all applicants not currently employed by CBP. Individuals are required to have physically resided in the United States or its protectorates (as declared under international law) for at least three of the last five years. If you do not meet the residency requirement and you have been physically located in a foreign location for more than two of the last five years, you may request an exception to determine if you are eligible for a residency waiver by meeting one or more of the following conditions:

• Working for the U.S. Government as a federal civilian or as a member of the military
• A dependent who was authorized to accompany a federal civilian or member of the military who was working for the U.S. government
• Participation in a study abroad program sponsored by a U.S. affiliated college or university
• Working as a contractor, intern, consultant or volunteer supporting the U.S. government

Probationary Period: All employees new to the federal government must serve a one year probationary period during the first year of his/her initial permanent federal appointment to determine fitness for continued employment. Current and former federal employees may be required to serve or complete a probationary period.

Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) Eligibles: If you have never worked for the federal government, you are not CTAP/ICTAP eligible. View information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibilityon OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To be considered well qualified under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be rated at a minimum score of 85 for this position. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under the Required Documents section of this announcement.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here.

Responsibilities:

In this position, you will be responsible for researching, screening, evaluating, and consolidating, reviewing, and interpreting CBP operational information related (but not limited to) CBP and Border Security issues, current and emerging threats, and intelligence data, from various CBP sources to identify information of intelligence value that accurately responds to IC collection requirements and information needs, and close intelligence gaps.

This position starts at a salary of $106,437.00 (GS-13, Step 1) to $138,370.00 (GS-13, Step 10).

GS Salary: Visit this link to view the locality pay tables by geographic area. If you do not see your geographic area listed, select the "Rest of United States" pay table. Some positions fall under a special pay rate depending on the series, grade level and location of the position.Please visit this link to view special pay rate charts.

Major Duties for this position include, but are not limited to:

• Maintaining a current understanding of CBP local, regional, and national intelligence collection requirements with emphasis on HUMINT requirements related to transnational organized crime (TOC), global terrorism, counternarcotics, illicit trade, and illicit migration to research and review CBP operational and HUMINT reporting to identify and report information to satisfy applicable requirements, and to support gap analysis and collection management.
• Reporting timely all-source intelligence information with emphasis on HUMINT through intelligence information reports (IIR) cables, and notes while ensuring reliability, validity, and relevance for the broader CBP intelligence enterprise and Intelligence Community.
• Working with all-source collectors and analysts to identify HUMINT collection gaps, develop and refine HUMINT collection plans, evaluate raw and finished HUMINT intelligence reporting, and contributes to maintaining the common intelligence picture to with emphasis on TOC, narcotics, terrorism, illicit finance, espionage, and human trafficking.

Salary : $106,437