Yasline Chavez

Period 4

5 April 2019

Page 1

FBI Special Agent

Is working in the FBI really like it is in the movies? Is the FBI hiding aliens somewhere on

earth? Well no, at least not that we know. The FBI investigates terrorism, counterintelligence,

cybercrime, violent crime, civil rights, public corruption and, many more other things. I would

like to join the FBI because I want to see what secrets the U.S. is hiding and because ever since I

was little, I would watch spy movies where agents would go on undercover missions and so

many other dangerous things and I always thought to myself how much I wanted to be like them.

In order for me to be completely sure I want to join the FBI, I would like to know their history,

requirements, what job positions there are, what kind of education I need and what they do in

their daily life.

The FBI was born or established on July 26, 1908, but was later renamed the FBI in 1935.

The FBI was started while Theodore Roosevelt was in office. The reason the FBI started was that

Attorney General Charles Bonaparte felt that America needed a more efficient investigative arm,

so he recruited a force of special agents to report to Chief Examine Stanley W. And in 1909 the

FBI became the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) with 34 agents in total. Within a few years, there

were already more than 300 agents. Right now in 2019, there are 35,000 people wording in the

FBI. During the early years of the FBI, they investigated violations of the law such as a national

bank,

Page 2
bankruptcy, naturalization, antitrust, peonage, and land fraud then later on the FBI started

investigating bigger things, organizations, and people. There were also many heroes or very

successful people in the FBI, one of them is Joseph Dominick Pistone also known as Donnie

Brasco or Joe Pistone. Joe Pistone was an FBI agent for 17 years and an undercover agent for 6

years. Before joining the FBI, Joe worked for the office of Naval Intelligence. In 1974 Joe was

transferred to a hijacking unit mainly because he could drive 18-wheeler trucks and bulldozers,

he was also eventually given undercover work in a theft ring-vehicle. The FBI gave Joe a new

identity as a “small, but successful, jewel thief called Donnie Brasco” (Donnie Brasco

Biography). Joe even went to school to learn about rare, precious gems to get more into

character. This then led to Joe being undercover into the Bonanno crime family or in other

words, the mafia. He was selected to do the undercover work in the mafia because of his Sicilian

heritage, he was fluent in Italian, he didn’t perspire under pressure, and because he knew the

mafia code of conduct and system. As you can see, this job has been around for a very long time,

110 years to be exact. And it has come a very long way from very little agents working there to

35,000 agents working at the FBI.

Being able to get into the FBI is very difficult. It takes years of planning and hard work to

make yourself ready to join the FBI. The FBI is looking for applicants with honesty,

responsibility, sound judgment skills, intelligence, physical fitness, and people who are team

players. In order for someone to become a special agent in the FBI, they would need to be

mentally and physically prepared. Some minimum requirements an FBI agent would need to join

the FBI are: must be a U.S. citizen, between the age of 23 and 37, have a valid driver's license,

Page 3
have a four-year degree from an authorized or accredited academic institution, willing to work

anywhere in the world, and have at least three years of experience in a professional job.

Depending on what job the applicant wants in the FBI, they would need to know accounting,

computer science and information on technology, various languages, have studied law, and must

be diversified. You will need a CPA certification, hold a four year degree in accounting or

worked for 3 years in accounting, you must have a bachelor's degree in IT discipline, have a

Cisco Certified Network Professional certification or a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert

certification, have a four year degree in a foreign language that the FBI will assign you, a Juris

Doctor degree from law school and a bachelor's degree from an industry with three years of

professional experience or two years if you have a Juris Doctor degree/PhD. If you think you

meet all the requirements then you will take a written test at a local FBI facility building. The

applicants take several written test of their basic abilities, capability, and knowledge. If you pass

you will be moving on to phase two which will include “ a test of your written skills and an in-

depth oral interview” (The Balance Careers). If you complete both phases successfully then you

will also need to complete the physical fitness test which is made up of sit-ups, push-ups, a 300-

meter sprint, and a 1.5 mile that will be timed. The applicants will be scored based on how many

sit-ups and push-ups you can do in a minute, and how fast your able to do the 300-meter sprint

and 1.5 miles run. If you're able to complete the physical fitness test successfully than your next

step is the background investigation check, a polygraph exam, a credit check and “interviews

with neighbors, coworkers, and friends. It also includes interviews with previous employers to

learn more about your past work history.” (The Balance Careers). If the applicant

Page 4
gets accepted, the FBI will invite you to take a special agent class at the FBI Academy in

Quantico, Virginia. The applicant will be living on campus since it is a 21-week training

program. At the academy, you will spend hours in the classroom learning how to shoot a firearm

perfectly, defensive tactics, and many other special and important things. Besides being a special

agent you could also be an Intelligence Analysts, Surveillance, Forensic Accounting, and

Foreign Languages. Intelligence Analysts analyze and report data to reduce and neutralize

threats. Surveillance will collect evidence from a crime scene to help the investigation move

forward. Forensic Accounting “Ensure accountability to enable the mission, and help us detect

and track financial crimes” (FBI Jobs Career Paths). Lastly, the foreign languages group “use

cultural and language expertise to protect the nation and create relationships with communities”

(FBI Jobs Career Paths). Given these points, you can see that it takes a lot of effort and work to

become an FBI special agent and not everybody can make it but it can be assured that those who

do are most likely right for that job.

Working as an FBI special agent, you don't have regular or normal days. Every day is

something different. According to FBI Agent: Career Guide, you're always doing something

different such as watching authorized court tappings or working undercover. As a special agent,

you are required to be willing to do arrest, raids, search warrants, and many other dangerous

activities. They may also be involved in bigger, greater things such as drug trafficking,

cybercrime, organized crime, terrorism threats, and airplane hijackings. Being an FBI secret

agent takes up a lot of time, you have to be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and

some may work on holidays/special occasions. Sometimes agents are transferred overseas to deal

Page 5
with people in traumatic situations or crime scenes that involve death, the transfer is only

temporary of course but is still very hard work. However, the hard work does pay off, the

average salary for a special agent is about $71,597 to $162,988. Special agents don't just receive

a big salary, they also get health insurance, after 20 years of working you get retirement benefits,

and paid vacations and holidays. The FBI also offers other things such as an “elective insurance

program that pays upon the death of a Special Agent, whether job-related or not” (FBI Jobs)

called The Special Agents Insurance Fund (SAIF). They also offer the Charles S. Ross Fund that

“compensates the beneficiaries of Special Agents killed in the line of duty. Every Special Agent

automatically belongs to the Fund” (FBI Jobs). To summarize, the FBI makes special agents

work very hard and for a long time but you do get rewarded with a good salary, paid vacations,

and insurance in case you line while on duty.

As can be seen, being an FBI special agent is not like it is in the movies. It's not about hiding

aliens or supernatural things or people with superpowers but more about protecting the U.S, from

terrorist, airplane hijackings, drug trafficking, and so many other things. Overall, getting into the

FBI is extremely hard but in the end, it does pay off with special treatment.

Work Cited Page

“A Brief History.” FBI, FBI, 3 May 2016, www.fbi.gov/history/brief-history.

www.biography.com/people/donnie-brasco-17172110.

Editors, History.com. “FBI.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 24 May 2017,

www.history.com/topics/us-government/fbi.

“FBI Requirements.” How to Become an FBI Agent, www.fbiagentedu.org/fbi-requirements/.

“FBI Special Agent Salaries.” Glassdoor, www.glassdoor.com/Salary/FBI-Special-Agent-

Salaries-E24637_D_KO4,17.htm.

“Federal Bureau of Investigation.” FBIJOBS, www.fbijobs.gov/career-paths.

“Federal Bureau of Investigation.” FBIJOBS, www.fbijobs.gov/working-at-FBI/benefits.

“Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation.

“History.” History - Federal Bureau of Investigation, fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/fbi_hist.htm.

“History.” FBI, FBI, 3 May 2016, www.fbi.gov/history.

“Joe Pistone, Undercover Agent.” FBI, FBI, 18 May 2016, www.fbi.gov/history/famous-

cases/joe-pistone-undercover-agent.

Joseph, Chris. “The Characteristics of FBI Agents.” Chron.com, 9 Nov. 2016,

work.chron.com/characteristics-fbi-agents-7224.html.
“Joseph D. Pistone.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_D._Pistone.

Possel, Heiko. “Transition Words.” English Language, www.smart-words.org/linking-

words/transition-words.html.

Roufa, Timothy. “Here Is How You Can Become a FBI Special Agent.” The Balance

Careers, www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-become-an-fbi-agent-974492.