undergradly.
Major · Military Technologies

A gateway credential for intelligence, security, and federal service

Intelligence, General (CIP 29.0201) is a small-to-mid undergraduate field with 1,676 completions across 15 institutions. The major covers intelligence cycle methods, signals and human intelligence, and security policy — a foundation for follow-on work in federal agencies, the military, or graduate study.

Schools offering
15
Annual completions
1,676
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$78k

About this major

Intelligence, General (CIP 29.0201) covers the principles and techniques of intelligence acquisition, analysis, and exploitation. Coursework spans the intelligence cycle, operations planning, analysis and reporting methods, electronic and signals intelligence, human-intelligence management, communications and operations security, information exploitation, psychological operations, and the relationship between intelligence work and national-security strategy. Students read history, regional politics, and ethics alongside more technical material on data, geospatial methods, and increasingly on cyber and open-source collection. Programs differ sharply by setting: senior military colleges like Norwich and the Citadel teach the material inside an officer-development pipeline, while civilian universities like Mercyhurst and Coastal Carolina lean toward analytic tradecraft and policy.

The major rewards students who like ambiguous problems and structured reasoning under uncertainty. Comfort with reading dense reporting, weighing source reliability, and writing clear short-form analysis matters more than raw quantitative skill. Languages, regional knowledge, and military or law-enforcement experience all compound the value of the degree.

Nationally, 1,676 students complete this CIP across 15 institutions, with a five-year median wage of $77,758. Two schools dominate the count: Cochise County Community College in Sierra Vista, Arizona — adjacent to Fort Huachuca, the Army’s intelligence training hub — produces 791 associate’s graduates per year, and American Public University System produces 479 bachelor’s graduates, mostly to active-duty and veteran students online. Together they account for more than three-quarters of national output, which makes the field look smaller than it is. Many universities place students with the same career goals into political science, criminal justice, or security-studies programs instead, so the CIP captures only a slice of the actual undergraduate intelligence pipeline.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

No federal crosswalk data available for this major yet.

Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$78k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$75k

Bachelor's

$78k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you are oriented toward federal or military service and want a degree built around that destination, you are comfortable working on problems where the answer is rarely clean and the sources rarely agree, you can sustain interest in geopolitics, regional history, or technical collection methods over four years, you can pass the background and lifestyle scrutiny that security clearances require, and the bachelor’s wage of $78,210 fits your near-term expectations with the understanding that long-term earnings rise sharply with clearance and graduate study.

Think twice if you want a clean civilian career pathway with named employers in the BLS data — this CIP does not produce that, and the destination depends heavily on hiring cycles at federal agencies and the military. Reconsider if a security clearance is unlikely for personal, financial, or citizenship reasons, since most named destinations for this degree require one. Pause if your target school is not Cochise CCD, American Public University, or one of the senior military colleges and you have not confirmed the program is more than a thin concentration; with only 15 institutions in the national data, fit between the program and your service or agency goals matters more than the credential itself.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Intelligence, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Cochise County Community College District Sierra Vista, AZ 791 0 791
American Public University System Charles Town, WV 0 479 479
Norwich University Northfield, VT 0 129 129
Citadel Military College of South Carolina Charleston, SC 0 74 74
Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 0 67 67
Mercyhurst University Erie, PA 0 59 59
Excelsior University Albany, NY 0 36 36
Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN 0 20 20
Utah Valley University Orem, UT 9 0 9
University of Lynchburg Lynchburg, VA 0 5 5
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Cyber/Electronic Operations and Warfare

485 completions/yr

Intelligence, Command Control and Information Operations, Other

65 completions/yr

Strategic Intelligence

41 completions/yr

Signal/Geospatial Intelligence

5 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Intelligence, General majors actually study?
Coursework follows the CIP definition: the intelligence cycle, intelligence operations planning, analysis and reporting, electronic and signals intelligence, human intelligence management, communications security, information exploitation, and the relationship to national-security policy. Programs at military-affiliated colleges (Norwich, Citadel) emphasize operational doctrine and chain of command, while civilian universities (Mercyhurst, Coastal Carolina) lean more toward analytic methods and policy. Expect coursework on geopolitics, regional studies, ethics, and increasingly on cyber and open-source intelligence techniques.
Where do graduates actually go after this degree?
The standard destinations are federal: Department of Defense civilian roles, intelligence-community agencies (CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI), military service as commissioned officers in intelligence branches, and federal law enforcement. Some graduates move into private-sector intelligence contracting, corporate security, or competitive intelligence and analytics roles. A bachelor’s in Intelligence, General most often pairs with security-clearance eligibility, prior or concurrent military service, or follow-on graduate work in security studies. The packet does not list direct BLS career codes for this CIP, which reflects how dispersed the actual placement landscape is.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough?
Both degree levels exist in the data and earn similar money in the five-year window: associate’s graduates earn $75,493 and bachelor’s graduates earn $78,210, with an overall median of $77,758. The associate’s side is dominated by Cochise County Community College (791 completions, the largest single program in the country), which sits next to Fort Huachuca and serves a heavily military student body. For most federal-civilian and officer-track paths, a bachelor’s is the practical floor; for enlisted intelligence roles, the associate’s pairs cleanly with service.
Why are completions concentrated at so few schools?
Just 15 institutions confer this credential, and two of them — Cochise County Community College (791 completions) and American Public University System (479) — account for more than 75% of the national total. The remaining schools are mostly senior military colleges and military-friendly universities (Norwich, Citadel, Excelsior, Coastal Carolina, Mercyhurst). Many universities also roll intelligence students into broader majors like political science, security studies, or criminal justice, which masks the true population studying this material.
How does this compare to related military-tech majors?
Within the same CIP-4 family, Cyber/Electronic Operations and Warfare (29.0207) has 485 completions and tilts toward technical cyber-operations careers, while Strategic Intelligence (29.0202, 41 completions) and Signal/Geospatial Intelligence (29.0203, 5 completions) are smaller, more specialized siblings. Intelligence, General is the broadest entry point in the family. A student certain about a technical specialty may prefer the more focused codes; a student who wants flexibility across analytic, operational, and policy lanes is better served here.
What is a common next step after this degree?
Three patterns dominate. First, federal hiring through programs like the DOD civilian intelligence career track or agency entry pipelines, usually contingent on clearance adjudication. Second, military commissioning or continuing service in an intelligence MOS or rating. Third, graduate study — typically a master’s in security studies, international affairs, or intelligence analysis at programs like Johns Hopkins SAIS, Georgetown, or the Naval Postgraduate School — to compete for senior analytic roles. Private-sector intelligence contracting often draws from candidates who have already cleared one of the first two paths.