A former Central Intelligence Agency operative is sharing intel on her dating life.
As an agent, Brittany Butler Jennings kept her job title top secret, vetting her love interests before disclosing her work to avoid raising “too many eyebrows.”
The Charleston, South Carolina, resident, who worked at the CIA for nine years, called her job “a unique aspect” of her life, finding that it wasn’t too difficult to keep it under wraps during the first few weeks of dating.
“In the early stages, I generally kept my job description vague, mentioning I was a government consultant. The details only became more specific when absolutely necessary,” Jennings, 40, told Newsweek.
“The truth about my CIA affiliation was something I shared only when it was unavoidable. For the most part, only my husband was privy to that information once our relationship reached a significant level of trust and commitment.”
Now that she has left the agency, Jennings, author of the novel “The Syndicate Spy,” can be open about her former line of work — and complex dating life — on TikTok, where she goes by @formerspy1 and boasts more than 93,000 followers.
In a recent clip, she told the story of an ex who was not a US national. The former flame was from Mexico, and the CIA required Jennings to disclose her relationship — along with the man’s name, birthdate and other personal information — so that the agency could run a thorough background check and ensure he was not a security threat.
“Surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward or difficult to get that information,” she explained, noting that she only told the guy she worked with the government, not explicitly with the CIA. “People tended to trust me, and it was more about ensuring transparency and security.”
It wasn’t until 2008 that her romantic life took a turn: She met her now-husband, Matt. She only revealed her true line of work after about four months of dating, she said.
“He found it incredibly intriguing. When I asked him, he said he thought it was sexy and mysterious,” she told Newsweek. “Given his background as a lobbyist on the Hill, he was familiar with people in the intelligence and defense communities, so it wasn’t entirely foreign to him.”
He has even been allowed to visit CIA headquarters and the museum there — after providing his Social Security number — but was not granted access to confidential areas, such as “the vault” where classified information is located, Jennings revealed on TikTok.
“The vault??” one viewer commented. “I need more!!!”
“Whenever I hear, government contractor, as a job … I know it’s with some agency but you don’t ask,” wrote another.
