How difficult is international travel when you are part of or formerly a part of an intelligence community? [closed]
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I understand that this is a very broad question, but I'm asking it mainly out of curiosity.
Suppose that one works for the CIA, or the NSA, or some other American intelligence agency; I expect that getting a tourist visa for, say, Russia, would be more difficult than usual, obviously, and that the same would hold in the opposite direction as well.
However, there are obviously lots of people employed by such groups (like IT staff) that are not directly employed in espionage pro forma. How much more difficult does international travel become in such cases?
Best Answer
Actually, not that many countries require a visa for US citizens and even among the most restrictive/unfriendly countries, only a handful would have the resources to track and identify random low-level intelligence staff so I would not expect a huge impact.
On the other hand, some countries (and especially the US) place restrictions on foreign travel by clearance holders. So if you want to keep your job and your career, you need to follow specific procedures and cannot go abroad just like that.
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