What do you enjoy most about your intelligence analyst career?

What do you enjoy most about being an intelligence analyst? What do you dislike the most? Is it challenging? Are there many opportunities to learn and advance?

What keeps you at your job?

Numerous opportunities. Can be very fast changing. YOU must be able to change your mind, reassess, think out of the box, use non-linear thinking, and have the ability to jump from a data set to connect other disparate facts to fit a trend or plan (then reassess) - predictive analysis.

Dislikes: non intelligence managers - operations types who can only think cro-magnon linearly. Military types who refuse to think outside parameters, General officers who make great business managers but have ZERO leadership and ability to absorb intelligence lessons. Political appointees with agendas and a full inability to actuate operational activity from intelligence.

Many challanges to educate non-intelligence types. To end-run around obstructionalist Cro-magnon types (pretty easy except when you have to work for them). Try to defeat the "smokey mirrors" and the "bean counter" management types. Learning is great outside of the operational environment. In the operational and forward deployed area - mistakes cost lives. This is a hard learning curve.

Keeping me at my job - once it was patriotism, then its for the end pension. There is a lot of heartfelt disdain for those who cannot stomach the fight. Intelligence drives operations and can enhance, predict, save lives, and render a successful operational conclusion. The Ops and Specwar types may not have to charge up the hill.