Intelligence Research Specialist

This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Intelligence, in the following locations:

• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Del Rio, Texas
• Eagle Pass, Texas
• Edinburg, Texas
• El Paso, Texas
• Marfa, Texas

Additional selections may be made for other organizational divisions and/or units within the duty location(s) listed above.

You qualify for the GS-12 grade level if you possess 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, performing duties such as:

• Integrating data and information from all relevant sources to analyze situations or conditions that affect operations;
• Identifying and evaluating the adversarial capabilities, composition, and disposition of all border security threats;
• Conceptualizing, planning, drafting, editing, and presenting intelligence products, ensuring information is clear, consistent, concise, timely, relevant, and accurate;
• Compiling, collating, extrapolating, and exploiting information from a variety of sources, using new and creative methodology for unusual problems.

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 organization to evaluate, discuss, test, and validate intelligence research reports, and intelligence collection programs, plans;
• Recognizing intelligence requirements based on existing reporting and providing 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;
• Conducting special research studies and providing comprehensive assessments of broad, complex, or highly sensitive issues.

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, Ameri Corps) 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.

• 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 10/07/2026.

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.

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.

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…