> Copyright 1998 AFP (November 27, 1998)
>
> The CIA is hiring again in its biggest recruitment drive in a decade.
>
> In a bid to boost its depleted numbers, the agency has initiated a
> national advertising campaign and is hosting receptions at hotels across
> America in order to sign up new spies and analysts.
>
> The Agency is keen to stem a post-Cold War decline in personnel in order
> to tackle the proliferating new dangers of the current era, the daily
> said.
>
> "The threat environment is growing more diverse, complex and
> dangerous,"CIA Director George Tenet said in a speech earlier this year
> that spelled out his strategic vision for the agency.
>
> "It's easier and easier for smaller and smaller groups to do more
> serious damage, with less visibility and warning. The potential for
> surprise has increased enormously," he added.
>
> The Central Intelligence Agency's payroll has declined from a peak of
> about 22,000 employees in the late 1980s to about 16,000 today, the
> paper reports.
>
> Alarmed by such retrenchment, Congress has begun to rebuild the CIA's
> espionage expertise over the past two years.
>
> This fiscal year Congress added $1.5 billion to the budget of 13 U.S.
> intelligence agencies -- of which $200 million to $300 million is
> thought to have been earmarked for CIA personnel.
>
> This year, the agency is casting its net wider in order to attract
> slightly older prospects in their mid to late twenties keen on a career
> in espionage, the daily said.
>
> It is also refining traditional recruitment methods, by building
> stronger links with 66 top colleges and universities.
>
> The list includes the cream of American universities: the Massachusetts
> Institute of Technology, Harvard, Cornell, Stanford and Berkeley.