The CIA wants you! If you can speak Malay

The banner in Malay on the Facebook page of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wants to recruit Malay-speaking agents, according to a banner displayed in Washington, DC.

The banner, featuring a Caucasian woman, reads:

“Kemampuan Berbahasa Anda … Are A Critical Part Of Our Mission. There is a whole world of opportunities to use your foreign language skills at the CIA.”

Meanwhile, in the CIA’s Facebook page, the agency says that one’s linguistic skills can make America safer.

“When you work for the CIA, you can use your foreign language skills in a variety of ways — in a career that’s as exciting as it is fulfilling,” it said in a post published on April 17.

Social media users commenting on the page meanwhile are at odds if the Malay use in the banner is Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia.

The recruitment advertisement follows the introduction of the “K indicator” to convey the risk of kidnapping to travelling US citizens by the US State Department on April 9.

Malaysia is included in the list.

The recruitment drive for Malay-speaking personnel could come in handy in the wake of news that a former Mossad chief said that the US will need to combat attempts by Iran to circumvent anti-nuclear programme sanctions through Malaysia.

Danny Yatom told The Jerusalem Post that unlike Syria, Iraq and Iran, Israel “cannot project the same intelligence penetration in a faraway country like Malaysia” the way that the US — the Jewish state’s staunchest ally — might be able to do.

The daily also said smaller countries like Malaysia could also “play a big factor and may become more important at this new stage”. - FMT