The secret to working in Tampa? Get clearance

Howard Altman reports for The Tampa Tribune:

The ads for these Tampa-based jobs read like source material for a Robert Ludlum spy novel.

"Are you looking for a rewarding and challenging career as an Intelligence Analyst with one of the nation's leading Defense Contractors?" the Northrop Grumman Corp. asks.

"The Intelligence Analyst should have experience in (counterterrorism, counterinsurgency), Southwest Asia regional issues, HUMINT, or political/military analyses, and Iraqi or Afghan cultural awareness and political/social environments," reads another, from a company called GTEC.

Calhoun International is looking for someone whose job responsibilities "may include but are not limited to counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, political and military leadership and decision-making of threat areas; nuclear strategy and regional ambitions of target countries; military capabilities, strategy, doctrine and operational concepts."

Every day, the military relies on contractors from the private sector to do everything from translating Urdu, Farsi and Pashto to installing computer networks and gathering intelligence in the field.

Because of the nature of the jobs, applicants usually are required to have at least a secret clearance or the ability to get one. Often - as in the case of the job ads from Northrop Grumman, GTEC and Calhoun International - the applicant is required to have a higher, or top secret, level of clearance.

The need for those with such clearance is particularly acute in Tampa.

With the war in Afghanistan and follow-up operations in Iraq being run by U.S. Central Command, and with special operations forces in play globally under U.S. Special Operations Command - both with their headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base - the Tampa Bay area is one of the nation's leading markets for jobs requiring secret or top secret clearance.

Overall, military contracting is big business. Companies in Tampa were awarded contracts valued at more than $6 billion from 2000 through 2009, according to GovernmentContractsWon.com, a website that tracks contracts using data compiled from the federal government.

Last year alone, the military awarded more than 1,000 contracts worth more than $1.3 billion to companies doing business in Tampa, according to the website.

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