Charlottesville, VA  Daily Progress, 15 Nov 09:  Surveys conducted of federal intelligence workers who may be moving to Central Virginia as part of base realignment provide valuable insight into the kinds of professionals who will eventually become our neighbors.

Federal plans to move intelligence analysis functions and other jobs here beginning next year will result in more than 800 Defense Intelligence Agency workers coming our way. Another 700 jobs could be created as a result of support employment and the general impact on our economy. They can’t come soon enough, for a variety of reasons. This group of military, civilian and contract personnel currently includes highly educated professionals who command impressive wages.

George Mason University’s Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness provided analysis of a pair of surveys conducted of Defense Intelligence Agency workers whose jobs are being moved to the Rivanna Station facility in northern Albemarle County in the months and years ahead. The survey analysis was conducted for the Piedmont Workforce Network and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

The 140 DIA civilian employees who completed the second survey in September work in divisions that provide military forces analysis and research and development in areas such as counterproliferation, strategic warning, and forensic intelligence collection.

. . . . .What’s instructive and encouraging about the survey results is not so much the finding that people are not sure about what they’ll do, but the information we can glean about the kinds of jobs and professionals who are working for DIA.

Example: Of the 140 DIA workers who responded to the survey, half have a master’s degree or PhD. Another 46 have a bachelor’s degree. Almost half of those responding (48 percent) earn more than $100,000 per year. DIA jobs moved to Rivanna Station likely won’t pay as much as the same jobs in the Washington region, but the cost of living will be lower here as well. The takeaway point, though, is that the jobs associated with the DIA work pay very well, indeed. . . . . . .