Virginia Tech students got an inside look at life in the CIA during an event on Thursday. Agents visited the campus to host a hands-on intelligence exercise that included a simulation of disarming a bomb in space. Though disarming a bomb in space was a simulation, the event’s purpose was real: to inspire interest in careers at the CIA and showcase the high-stakes problem-solving used to protect national security.
In a new initiative, the CIA collaborated with Virginia Tech’s Hume Center for National Security and Technology to invite students into an online challenge that simulated the analytical skills needed for intelligence work. This program, which launched at Virginia Tech, is expected to reach more universities across Virginia.
“It’s an effort to get people who may be interested in this and give them an opportunity to get their feet wet and interact with us, hopefully in a more engaging way than simply sitting behind a table at a recruiting fair and handing out flyers,” said Tom, a CIA officer who withheld his last name for security reasons.
The event involved about 50 students participating in a multi-week puzzle broken into 24-hour segments. The final phase took place Thursday, with a small group of students gathering in Kelly Hall to piece together information that led to clues hidden inside lockboxes. The fictional scenario revolved around intelligence of a terrorist plot to launch explosives into space, which if left unchecked, could have disastrous effects on the International Space Station, GPS, internet, and banking systems.
The CIA’s deputy director of science and technology attended the event as part of a seminar series by the Hume Center, titled “Science and Technology and Games: How the CIA Fosters Creativity.” Describing the high-stakes scenario, Tom explained, “It would destroy the International Space Station, mass chaos. We lose GPS, we lose banking, we lose the Internet. Just bad for humanity.”
In a dramatic final moment, the students, known in the game as “Inflectors,” entered a remote-control code to disarm the rocket—with just seconds to spare.