Aspiring intel officer receives Holaday Scholarship

  • Published
  • By Don Branum
  • Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  A cadet who hopes to change the way the Defense Department provides intelligence to warfighters has received the 2014 Holaday Scholarship.

Cadet 1st Class Kari Baker said she hopes to use the scholarship to pursue a Master of Science degree in global governance and diplomacy at Oxford University in England.
Brig. Gen. Andrew Armacost, the Academy's dean of the faculty, endorsed Baker as one of the Academy's very best.

"Kari is a woman of strong character in an institution that prides itself on producing leaders of character," Armacost said. "(She is) a rare individual who combines an incredible intellect, demonstrated ability as a leader, a deep commitment to service as well as a determination to make a real difference."

Baker, a geospatial science major, said she became interested in the intelligence career field through talking with her instructors. She attended a five-week internship at the Defense Intelligence Agency last summer, which she said formed the backbone of her desire to become part of the intelligence community.

"My internship at the DIA was my first glimpse of what the intelligence community can accomplish," she said. "I saw the impacts of intelligence work in the real world and began to understand how the analyses produced by the intelligence community can lead to policies that impact the lives of both Americans and those we interact with abroad."

Baker said she saw an example of the value of intelligence during a cultural immersion visit to Israel. She was part of a group of service academy cadets who were riding on a bus when the driver announced, "Our bus has just entered the range of rockets from Gaza."

"The nonchalant announcement ... sent chills down my spine when I considered how such an event is commonplace for the people of the area," she wrote in her scholarship application package.

That experience, along with witnessing other signs of conflict -- the massive wall along the West Bank, the active minefields in Golan Heights and the Hezbollah and Hamas flags lining the Lebanese and Syrian borders -- crystallized her belief in the need for intelligence officers.

It's crucial for intel officers to be able to sort through the mountains of information they receive on a daily basis, Baker said.

"Intelligence officers synthesize information and analyze outcomes. They also must possess an understanding of a variety of disciplines in order to frame, analyze and solve ill-defined problems," she said. "These skills are important because intelligence officers have a tangible impact on people's lives based on the recommendations they make to policymakers."

As an entry-level intelligence officer, Baker said she would like to create products to help officers on the ground better understand the threats they face. Long-term, she would like to participate in the intelligence reform process, to better clarify the scope and reach of DOD intelligence-gathering capabilities.

"Although intelligence reform is both complicated and controversial, I hope to create policies that improve communication and efficiency while simultaneously balancing individual liberty with America's security," she said.

Dr. John Hertel, the Academy's professor of law, said she's in a position to do just that. As a sophomore, Baker wrote position papers that outshone many seniors majoring in law and even some law school student papers.

"She grasped nuances of constitutional law that escape many attorneys," he said. "Kari wrote with conviction grounded in the passion of her own opinion and yet with a confidence that only mature understanding can bring. It was -- and she is -- exceptional."