Entertainment

Wanted: Wardrobe, For Spies

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 10, 2000 / 7:20 PM EST / CBS

Experienced in wardrobe design? Familiar with fabrics? Forget Broadway or the fashion industry— the CIA wants you!

The Central Intelligence Agency is advertising openings for "Theatrical Special Effects" and "Wardrobe/Production Design" specialists. It's a part time job with real world significance: helping CIA operatives in the field stay under cover so they can gather intelligence.

“We have a number of operations officers, men and women who serve overseas and sometimes in very hostile environments and circumstances, going after targets like terrorists and proliferators of weapons of mass destruction or narco-terrorists,” explained Anya Guilsher, a CIA spokesperson.

“"We need to be able to blend into different environments, sometimes make a quick change if we're under surveillance," Guilsher said. "We may need to carry certain technical equipment or be able to conceal things in our clothing."

The position requires someone who can "design and construct clothing and accessories for use in creating necessary special effects," according to the job posting. Candidates must have a degree in wardrobe design and construction and at least two years practical experience, or four years of industry experience.

The CIA's Secret Past

Critics of the CIA claim the agency has done everything from poisoning Cuban leader Fidel Castro's toothpaste to assassinating dissidents who opposed U.S.-backed regimes in foreign countries.

In 1996 a San Jose Mercury News report widely criticized for inaccuracies alleged that a drug ring sold narcotics in the U.S. to finance a CIA-backed war against the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

The CIA claims it has neither killed foreign leaders nor trafficked drugs.

However, the agency—which was created in 1947 by the National Security Act to gather intelligence and perform counterintelligence and other acts as ordered by the president—cannot disclose either the number of people it employs or the size of its budget.

"The ideal candidate also has a familiarity with fabrics and textiles, as well as a background in fabric dying, tailoring and draping techniques,"the posting reads.

Salaries range from roughly $17 to $38 per hour. You have to be a U.S. citizen to apply, and pass a background check that includes a polygraph test.

The CIA already has a staff of wardrobe and theatrical consultants. But over the last few years, the nation's spy agency has increased efforts at recruiting operations officers, the people who collect data on foreign countries.

Because the CIA is training more operatives, "we do have a corresponding need to gear up this particular office," Guilsher said.

Guilsher stresses that in addition to operatives, the CIA needs analysts, computer scientists and engineers.

Incidentally, the daring Guilsher herself used to work overseas as an operative for the CIA. But in her current position of spokesperson, where she talks to reporters every day, she admits: "I am a little more careful about what I say."

By Jarrett Murphy