Attorney Job

Vacancy No. 25-12669041-DNI/GC/LI Department Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Salary $167,603.00 to $195,200.00 Grade 15 to 15
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 1/15/2025 Close Date 2/12/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Bethesda, MDMcLean, VA


Summary

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) at the ODNI provides legal advice and counsel to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and other ODNI officials on a wide range of legal issues to include intelligence and national security law; procurement and acquisition law; personnel law; government ethics, fiscal law; general administrative law; legislative support; government information practices (Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act); and intellectual property law.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Open to current and former Federal employees with competitive or excepted status; and all U.S. Citizens. Former members of the Peace Corps may be considered for ODNI employment only if five full years have elapsed since separation from the Peace Corps.

Duties

Provide expert oral and written legal advice and guidance on the most complex areas of law, with appropriate input from supervisors and colleagues; expertly interpret and explain laws, regulations, policies, and other legal authorities, related to Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Intelligence Community (IC) business.

Counsel clients, including executive-level government officials, on the most complex legal issues and provide innovative and highly effective guidance on possible courses of action; expertly prepare complex, high profile, and persuasive legal documents on the most complex legal issues for a variety of internal and external recipients.

Adroitly coordinate legal guidance within the Office of General Counsel (OGC), ODNI, the IC, and the Executive Branch; expertly mediate, negotiate, and resolve inter-agency and intra-agency disputes covering a wide range of topics across multiple legal practice areas; consistently demonstrate "strategic lawyering" practices that anticipate or prevent legal problems.

Expertly conduct, or direct the conduct of, legal research and analysis on extremely complex or sensitive legal issues that have a significant impact on ODNI or IC interests, to include conducting interviews and investigations and briefing ODNI leadership on issues and findings.

Provide timely reviews of planned ODNI and IC activities for compliance with the law and brief ODNI and IC leaders on potential legal and policy issues and develop solutions to address the most difficult legal problems having potential high-level or large-scale impact on the ODNI's and IC's mission or activities.

Expertly analyze laws, bills, reports and Congressional records, as well as proposed Executive Branch orders, directives, regulations and policy statements, to determine their effect on the ODNI and the IC; provide authoritative advice and counsel to senior management on ODNI and IC legislative proposals, including Congressional testimony.

Provide expert briefings and advocate for ODNI and IC views on particular matters to judges, administrative bodies, Executive Branch entities, Congress, and private sector entities; cogently briefs senior ODNI and IC management on legal issues that relate to ODNI and IC activities.

Assist the Department of Justice in the most complex civil and criminal litigation by advocating for the ODNI's position, protecting classified information from disclosure, and defending the official actions of IC employees.

Expertly negotiate complex contracts and other agreements with other agencies, private sector entities, and foreign liaison.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen residing in the United States
  • Appointment is subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
  • Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance based on an SBI with eligibility for sensitive compartmented information (SCI)
  • Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
  • A two-year trial period is required for all new permanent appointments to the ODNI.

Qualifications

Expert ability to interpret laws, regulations, judicial decisions, Executive orders, and statutes involving complex concepts and issues, as well as expert-level research, analytical, and organizational skills.

Expert-level knowledge of one or more of the general or specialized areas of OGC's law practice, such as: federal taxation, federal employee ethics, Equal Employment Opportunity law, contracts, operations law, administrative law, and litigation.

Expert interviewing skills and techniques to skillfully collect relevant information; superior ability to balance client needs with professional objectivity and integrity.

Expert ability to prepare and edit logical, concise, and accurate written materials on the most complex topics that are easy to understand, persuasive, grammatically correct, and conform to OGC, ODNI, and other applicable legal standards for form and content.

Superior ability to quickly integrate and synthesize the facts and law to make legally sound decisions pertaining to the most complex situations, or in the context of ambiguous or ill-defined situations.

Superior ability to routinely communicate the most complex concepts and issues in a manner well matched to the audience being addressed, and to consistently make sound, timely decisions in complex, ambiguous or ill-defined situations.

Superior interpersonal, organizational and problem-solving skills, including ability to work effectively both independently and in a collaborative environment and superior creative problem-solving skills.

Juris Doctorate and Proof of Bar Status is required.

Education

Juris Doctorate.

Additional information

Job Interview Travel: Candidates from outside the Washington, D.C., area may be selected for a telephone, teleconference, or in-person interview.

Salary Determination:

The ODNI uses a rank-in-person system in which rank is attached to GS employees on the basis of individual qualifications, experience, and performance.
Individuals whose current GS grade is equivalent to the grade of the advertised position will retain their current grade and step.
Individuals who transfer to the ODNI from a non-GS pay scale will have base pay converted to the appropriate GS grade and step as determined by the Director/ Human Resource Management.

On occasional instances when a current federal civilian employee applies for an ODNI position that is a lower grade than his or her personal grade, the candidate's personal grade will be downgraded to the grade of the advertised ODNI position and pay will be set at the step that is closest to but not less than the employee's current annual base rate of pay, not to exceed the maximum rate (i.e., step 10) of the GS grade to which assigned.

Relocation Expenses: For new ODNI employees, reimbursement for relocation is discretionary based on availability of funds.

Reasonable Accommodations:
The ODNI provides reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the Reasonable Accommodations Officer by classified email at dni_reasonable_accommodation_wma@cia.ic.gov, by unclassified email at DNI_DRA@dni.gov, by telephone at 703-275-3900 or by FAX at 703-275-1217. Your request for reasonable accommodation will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO THE EEOD EMAIL ADDRESS. THIS EMAIL IS FOR REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS ONLY.

The ODNI is an equal opportunity employer and abides by applicable employment laws and regulations.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You must submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this announcement. We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you are among the best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview. w.

Required Documents

A complete application package must include:

a. RESUME: Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the vacancy announcement, particularly the MDRs, and construct their resume to highlight their most significant experience and qualifications relevant to this job opportunity. You must ensure the resume contains all of the required information and you organize it so we can associate the following information for each experience/position:?Job title; Name of employer; Beginning and ending dates of employment (month/day/year format); Hours worked per week. We will assume full-time unless otherwise stated. Detailed description of job duties, accomplishments, related skills, and responsibilities to include any supervisory/managerial responsibilities and number of staff supervised (if applicable) and;?Series and grade or equivalent (if a federal position).

b. POSITION NUMBER: Reference the announcement number in the subject line on each document submitted.

c. COVER LETTER: Applicants must submit a professional narrative as a supplement to the resume to elaborate on their qualifications and previous work performed.

d. CURRENT SF-50: Federal Government employees must provide your official most recent SF-50 (i.e., dated within the last 52 weeks from the closing date of this vacancy announcement.) SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" is used to verify to verify current federal status, position, title, grade, and organization of record. If your SF-50(s) does not provide the information needed to make a final determination for qualification, you will be found ineligible for the position.


Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

We encourage you to read the entire announcement prior to submitting your application.

Click "Apply" at the top of the page. Your application MUST be received by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date of this announcement.

In order to be considered, you must apply via USAJobs. The ODNI will not accept emailed applications. Applications received after the closing date will NOT be eligible for consideration. All attachments should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

Do not include the following types of information in your profile or resume:
- Classified or government sensitive information
- Social Security Number (SSN)
- Photos of yourself
- Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.
- Encrypted and digitally signed documents

Agency contact information

Vacancy Team ODNI
Address
LITIGATION AND INTELLIGENCE
Director Of National Intelligence
Washington, DC 20511
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

Once you successfully complete the application process, you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt email. Please note that the acknowledgement email does not ensure completion of your application. You must ensure that you submit all required documentation.

The most highly qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interview. We expect to make a selection within 60 days of the closing date of this announcement. Due to the large number of applications received, applicants will be contacted ONLY if they have been selected for an interview.






Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.