Collect, analyze, and disseminate intelligence for air operations. Brief commanders on threat assessments and targeting information.
Officer - College Degree Required, Security Clearance
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Intelligence officers run the shop that tells commanders what an adversary is doing and what they are likely to do next. Your day involves reading reporting, directing analysts, reviewing products, and briefing decision makers who have little time and hard questions. You support flying squadrons or operational units directly, which means threat briefs before missions and debriefs after they land. A large share of the job is management: building shift schedules, writing evaluations, handling clearances, and keeping a secure facility running properly. Deployments put you closer to operations, where the reporting cycle is faster and consequences arrive sooner.
You learn analytic tradecraft, including how to weigh sources, state confidence honestly, and separate what is known from what is assumed. Briefing becomes a practiced craft, because delivering a clear assessment to a senior officer under time pressure is its own skill. You gain working knowledge of collection systems, targeting, and how intelligence actually shapes an operation rather than sitting beside it. Commissioning requires a four year degree and completion of an academy, ROTC, or officer training program. Managing a team of analysts adds personnel administration, security management, and the practical side of leading technical people.
The work builds intellectual humility, because you will be wrong sometimes and have to say so clearly and early. You develop the ability to write and speak with precision, since vague language in an assessment causes real problems. Handling sensitive information over years grows durable discretion and a personal integrity that others quietly rely on. Leading analysts who know their narrow field better than you do teaches you to manage expertise rather than outrank it. Curiosity turns into a professional habit rather than a personality trait, since officers who read widely brief better.
Federal intelligence agencies, defense contractors, and law enforcement all hire former intelligence officers, and an active clearance is a substantial advantage. Corporate roles in threat intelligence, competitive analysis, risk management, and cybersecurity operations draw on the same reasoning. The management side supports program management and operations leadership anywhere information drives decisions. Many officers use the GI Bill for graduate work in international affairs, business, or data analytics. The combination of analysis, briefing skill, and clearance is one of the more portable packages the Air Force produces.
Your day opens with the morning intel brief, where you distill overnight cable traffic and imagery into a clear threat picture for the wing commander. You spend hours fusing reporting at your SCIF workstation, building target folders and answering questions from planners and aircrews. When a mission spins up, you are the one connecting collection assets to the answers operators need before they step to their jets.
No suitable exact-MOS or related career-field video has been verified for this page yet. No unrelated video or search-results page is substituted.
$77,814–$144,392
2026 basic pay only; the same grade and service time pay the same across jobs. Promotions are assumed, not promised. Excludes allowances, bonuses and special pays.
Possibilities for serving Airmen, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Earned through qualifying rifle or pistol competition performance—not routine weapons qualification or time in service.
A cross-specialty competition opportunity, including support Airmen. Entry depends on the particular authorized match and its eligibility rules; earning a badge requires the qualifying result and official award. Confirm entry, prior-award restrictions and uniform wear with the match organizer and current Air Force guidance.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Air Force 14N Intelligence Officer, official service-wide guidance and any exact feeder-list matches are distinguished below from unverified specialty-specific requirements. Ranks are not separate jobs, and these possibilities are not guaranteed promotions or available contracts.
Examples of higher service ranks
These are service-wide rank names, not a verified promotion ladder for this specialty. Examples are not exhaustive; appointments sharing a pay grade are not additional promotion steps.
Official military rank referenceThe Air Force's 16 May 2022 Enlisted Force Structure describes junior enlisted Airmen, NCOs, and senior NCOs, with increasing technical and leadership responsibilities. It is an enlisted development reference, not evidence of this AFSC's maximum rank, a commissioning route, or current specialty-specific selection requirements.
Air Force Enlisted Force Structure (16 May 2022)Service-level application reference—not a verified next step for this listing
The Air Force restored warrant careers. The reviewed FY26 announcement names 17W communications/IT and 17Y cyber specialties and accepts qualified applicants from any AFSC, as well as qualified civilians and prior-service applicants. It describes a closed 2025 Regular Air Force board; Guard/Reserve use separate memoranda. Current application windows, individual eligibility, and higher warrant-grade progression remain unverified.
Air Force FY26 warrant selection announcement (historical cycle)Specialty-specific advancement, senior assignments, and eligibility for a different personnel category have not been verified for this listing. No feeder eligibility or automatic transition to another specialty is implied.
Advancement depends on current service rules, performance, required education, qualifications, selection, and authorized positions—not simply years served. Confirm current requirements with an official recruiter or career counselor.
Related military jobs below are for exploration, not promised progression or confirmed transfer paths.
Sources reviewed 2026-10-03. This is a partial evidence review, not verification of every advancement route for this specialty. Source retrieval dates do not replace policy effective dates.
Career-field mappings, not automatic qualifications. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024 national medians). O*NET links explain each occupation; military experience does not guarantee a job or salary.
Collect, analyze, and disseminate intelligence for air operations. Brief commanders on threat assessments and targeting information.
Intelligence officers run the shop that tells commanders what an adversary is doing and what they are likely to do next. Your day involves reading reporting, directing analysts, reviewing products, and briefing decision makers who have little time and hard questions. You support flying squadrons or operational units directly, which means threat briefs before missions and debriefs after they land. A large share of the job is management: building shift schedules, writing evaluations, handling clearances, and keeping a secure facility running properly. Deployments put you closer to operations, where the reporting cycle is faster and consequences arrive sooner.
You learn analytic tradecraft, including how to weigh sources, state confidence honestly, and separate what is known from what is assumed. Briefing becomes a practiced craft, because delivering a clear assessment to a senior officer under time pressure is its own skill. You gain working knowledge of collection systems, targeting, and how intelligence actually shapes an operation rather than sitting beside it. Commissioning requires a four year degree and completion of an academy, ROTC, or officer training program. Managing a team of analysts adds personnel administration, security management, and the practical side of leading technical people.
Federal intelligence agencies, defense contractors, and law enforcement all hire former intelligence officers, and an active clearance is a substantial advantage. Corporate roles in threat intelligence, competitive analysis, risk management, and cybersecurity operations draw on the same reasoning. The management side supports program management and operations leadership anywhere information drives decisions. Many officers use the GI Bill for graduate work in international affairs, business, or data analytics. The combination of analysis, briefing skill, and clearance is one of the more portable packages the Air Force produces.
Officer - College Degree Required, Security Clearance. This is the catalog's listed requirement, not an individual eligibility decision. Confirm the current standard and any exceptions with the service.
A civilian can pursue this specialty through an officer accession path, subject to eligibility and assignment. Confirm the current status of this specific classification with an official recruiter.
Catalog sources consulted: 2026-09-26. This is not an entry-by-entry verification date. No record-specific verification date is recorded. Occupation audit evidence reviewed: 2026-09-26; this does not re-verify every requirement.
Official branch occupation evidence
Occupation identified. This occupation was identified in the cited source. This does not verify requirements, benefits, or a current opening.
Department of the Air Force Officer Classification Directory, 30 April 2026 · reviewed 2026-09-26
Confirmed. Catalog evidence is not an inventory of open contracts.
No dated public inventory confirmed a currently open recruiting contract for this role. This does not mean there are no openings. Confirm current eligibility and offers with an official recruiter.
Deployment likelihood: Moderate*
* Estimated. Rank progression and specialty-pay eligibility are illustrative assumptions. Deployment likelihood, when shown, is inferred from similar specialties in the branch and career field, not a published specialty deployment rate.
Descriptions may change. No military role is free from risk of injury or death, including non-combat work. Catalog review dates do not establish current openings or re-verification of every requirement.
Recruiting signals reflect what each branch published on the dates shown. They are not offers, and they do not mean a contract is open for you. Eligibility depends on your ASVAB scores, medical qualification, security clearance eligibility, and ship date. Confirm everything with an official recruiter. See our Disclaimer and Terms.