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October 15, 2020 - February 28, 2021
“With a gun, you can steal hundreds. With a pen, you can steal millions.”
when someone writing a novel, script, or screenplay gets essential facts wrong and falsely portrays FBI procedures and personnel, hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people now believe erroneous information about the FBI.
The FBI may investigate only when requested to do so by an appropriate law enforcement agency. Don’t forget, serial killings are still local murders. Homicide detectives where the deaths occurred will remain actively
involved in the investigation; the FBI works these cases with the cooperation and contributions of our local partners. The Bureau is also authorized to provide a variety of support services, from laboratory and behavioral analysis to crime statistics collection and the sharing of criminal identification information and history through our longstanding services and systems. However, as stated in the Criminal Investigative Analysis: Practitioner Perspectives, a four-part report written by J. Amber Scherer, MA, and John P. Jarvis, PhD, when they were assigned to FBI’s Behavioral Research and
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The primary goal of a profiler is to conduct behavioral analysis (also known as profiles) on unknown subjects, (known in FBI jargon as UNSUBS) in an attempt to discover additional information and clues to identify the person(s) responsible, assist in the resolution of hard-to-solve cases, and prevent future violence.
The only cases brought to the unit are cases that the local and state agencies feel are unsolvable.
So they’re bringing it and asking for us to do an analysis, looking at the behavior that’s occurred within the crime scene and the behavior exhibited by both the victim and the offender.
The Bureau doesn’t “take over” cases from local agencies. The FBI has no hierarchical authority over local and state agencies.
State and local law enforcement agencies are not subordinate to the FBI. If a crime occurs and the FBI shares jurisdiction with another agency or the FBI’s assistance is requested, the FBI will work closely with local and state police in an informal partnership or, for certain cases, a task force is formed combining federal, state, and local resources and manpower to solve a crime or prevent one. In some situations, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is drafted and signed by agency heads to establish responsibilities, financial obligations, and procedures.
Gina Davis: This is the beauty of the Safe Streets Task Force and any kind of FBI sponsored task force: we have the ability to use not only the federal legal system, but we also have the ability to use the state and the local jurisdictions as well to get process on our criminals.
The FBI pays the overtime associated with the police officers who work on the task force.
Wind River
an actual situation where a Bureau weapon is discharged, the FBI would have immediately deployed a shooting review team to investigate, especially when there are fatalities and an agent is shot. I explain more about shooting incidents in the Chapter #14, where I discuss agents being involved in gun battles. In spite of these inaccuracies, I found Wind River to be entertaining and recommend you watch the movie if you haven’t yet seen it.
People working everyday jobs, such as teachers, nurses, sales managers, linguists, cyber/computer specialists, pilots, and engineers are encouraged to apply to the FBI. I was a juvenile probation officer with a bachelor’s in psychology before I was hired. The Bureau is in particular need of candidates working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. These individuals are ideal for FBI positions involving forensic science, computer technology, cybersecurity, electronic surveillance, biometrics, and encryption. You might be surprised to learn that there are agents in
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However, during a major investigation in the field, assistance with surveillances, searches, arrests, monitoring wiretaps, transcribing tapes, and more is always needed. An entire squad or office gets involved and plays a part in the success of the operation. As the saying goes, it takes a village.
(That’s not to say that there aren’t any hot shot agents in the FBI who believe they are saviors of the universe; in the FBI, we call them “blue flamers,” usually young agents
so eager and energetic that, similar to rocket at launch, they have fire shooting from their backsides.)
FBI agents are assigned to squads based on related federal violations.
Most squads have ten to thirty agents working under one supervisory special agent (SSA). Although agents will need some support to work their investigations, every case has a case agent who is primarily responsible for the administration of the entire investigation.
This is one of the primary reasons the average age of new agents trainees is thirty years old—the bureau is looking for people who can hit the ground running, who have the skills, experience, and confidence to work autonomously. In most cases, the FBI is a second career for individuals hired for the special agent position.
Accomplishments, such as how many interviews, searches, arrests, indictments, trials, and convictions have been logged in since the last file review, are maintained on an FBI form FD-515 (Accomplishment Report
Form) informally known as a stat sheet.
No one wants to be known as an empty suit.
The primary objective of FBI special agents, no matter what squad or violation they are assigned to investigate, is to collect and assess intelligence. That’s because the FBI is not just a law enforcement agency. It’s also an intelligence-driven agency. Every field agent is evaluated on his or her participation in the collection of human intelligence (HUMINT),
and everyone they speak with is considered a potential source. Gathering
The Informant and The Informant!
The National Computer Information Center (NCIC) is an electronic clearinghouse of crime data, but the records are only as up-to-date as the information regarding arrests, charges, convictions, and sentences entered by thousands of law enforcement agencies around the country.
As is the case with all of the situations presented here, that type of information is obtainable, but through dogged investigative leg work, interviews, surveillances, subpoenas, and search warrants.
Most fingerprints on file in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a computerized index of criminal justice information, such as arrest records, warrants, adjudicated matters, criminal record history reports, as well as information on fugitives, stolen properties, and missing persons.
“I always say that three things solve cases; witnesses, physical evidence, and confessions. We need witnesses, but they can inherently be unreliable. They only see part of what happens, and they can only remember part of that. By the time you interview them, they’re not always sure. Physical evidence is good. It can be very subtle, and it can be very obvious. It can measure in things that are not present. And then there’s a confession. That’s a skill, learning how to talk to people, getting them to tell you their deepest darkest secrets.” —Retired agent Dan Craft in episode 132, “Jeffrey
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the way, the FBI now records custodial interviews and agents can request authorization to covertly record non-custodial interviews. When I was in the FBI, most interviews, adversarial or otherwise, were not recorded or videotaped. Agents have always been required to take copious notes during interviews and then provide a written narrative recorded as an FD-302 report of interview.
my opinion, in my experience, you get a lot more by taking the route of developing rapport, minimizing, and rationalizing. Lots of times people want to talk to you if you just listen to them.
My rating for Waco: No footwear was removed during the viewing of this series, and all laces remained tightly bound.
Basically, the FBI investigates and the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) prosecutes. However, they consult often on the merits of a case and the status of the investigation.
The FBI’s job is to gather the facts and evidence, and present the results to the local US Attorney. Both agencies fall under the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The main thing to understand is that the CIA’s mission is to gather and analyze
foreign intelligence, to collect information on the status of another country’s economy and defense. It is the FBI’s mission to prevent foreign governments from gathering and analyzing America’s intelligence, especially when this activity impacts our safety. This is known as counter-intelligence work.
The CIA are our spies overseas. It’s the FBI who hunts the spies in this country.”
Within the FBI it’s referred to as a “TTA,” a technically trained agent, and the selection process has evolved over the years.
Once selected, they then embark on a very intensive training program that is a combination of on-the-job training, what’s referred to as “OJT,” and specialized classroom training that’s conducted down at Quantico and surrounding areas, where parts of the tech program are located.
Title 3 of the Federal Criminal Code, which enables law enforcement with a court order to intercept audio and video on a location and then record and monitor it.
In a Pew Research Center survey conducted by the National Police Research Platform, only a little over a quarter (27 percent) of all officers say they have fired their service weapon while on the job.
Most agents are now using a Glock 19, which is a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol as their primary weapon. They also train with and are authorized to carry M16 rifles. Agents must attend at least four mandatory qualification sessions a year under the direction of FBI-trained and -certified firearms instructors. During these training sessions, agents shoot their issued and personally owned weapons and the rifle. They may also shoot the shotgun but only for familiarization; studies have shown that the weapon is not as accurate as the rifle.
talked about training and muscle memory taking over during a gunfight:
It’s called auditory exclusion.
Your hearing dims down a little bit. Some senses go up, some senses go down. I’ve been around gunshots without ear protection, and you practically jump out of your skin:“Whoa, what the heck was that!”
All FBI shooting incidents, even the accidental discharge of a weapon by an agent, are investigated and reviewed.
All shooting incident reviews are made with the cooperation and assistance of local law enforcement to further determine if any local or state laws were violated.
The completed report is reviewed independently by the Shooting Incident Review Group (SIRG), within the Bureau’s Inspection Division, to analyze and evaluate the application of deadly force in such incidents.
