If the experience of Halper is any sort of example, then writing a research project for the ONA is a sweet gig. So sweet that Halper managed to collect $1.05 million from the office over four years for work that appears to be barely supervised and of dubious value.
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/07/15/stefan_halpers_wages_of_spying.html