FBI Agent (Virtual Apprentice)

65 Pages·2009·6.22 MB·English

by  Gail Karlitz

FBI AGENT
By Gail Karlitz
Virtual Apprentice: FBI Agent
Copyright © 2009 by Bright Futures Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Karlitz, Gail.
Virtual apprentice : FBI agent / Gail Karlitz.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8160-6758-9 (hc : alk. paper) 1. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation—Juvenile literature. 2. United States.
Federal Bureau of Investigation—Vocational guidance. 3. Law enforcement—United States—Juvenile literature. 4. Criminal investiga-
tion—United States—Juvenile literature. I. Title.
HV8144.F43K37 2007
363.25023’73—dc22
2006036568
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Note to Readers: Please note that every effort was made to include accurate Web site addresses for kid-friendly resources listed
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CONTENTS
4
INTRODUCTION The Wonderful World of FBI Agents
The FBI: Then and Now 6
CHAPTER 1
FBI Agent at Work 14
CHAPTER 2
FBI Tech and Trends 22
CHAPTER 3
FBI Agent in Training 32
CHAPTER 4
The FBI Team 40
CHAPTER 5
Kids Ask, FBI Agents Answer 48
CHAPTER 6
FBI Agent for a Day 56
CHAPTER 7
62
APPENDIX More Resources for Young FBI Agents
64
INDEX
I N T R O D U C T I O N
“Freeze! FBI! Drop your weapon!”
You’ve seen that scene a hundred times in movies and on
television. The FBI agents, wearing their bulletproof FBI vests,
barge into a house (or store, or apartment, or warehouse)
where they fi nd the kidnappers (or bank robbers, or drug deal-
ers, or gang members). The bad guys fi ght back, but they are
no match for the FBI agents, who subdue them and put them
away where they can never hurt anyone again.
Can you see yourself doing something like that? Or what
about working in a crime lab and fi nding the clue that stops
a serial killer before he strikes again? Can you imagine what
it would be like to return a kidnapped child to his or her par-
ents? Or to stop an evil terrorist attack?
You may have just what it takes to do these things, even
if you’re not the big, bad, risk-taking hero type. FBI agents
specialize in so many different kinds of work. See if there’s a
place in the FBI that is just right for you.
What is it really like to be an FBI agent? Read on, and fi nd
out about
• how and why the FBI got started
• what an FBI agent might do on a typical day
4
• the amazing technologies that help FBI agents crack even
the toughest cases
• what it takes to become an FBI agent
• the people who help agents do their jobs
• what real agents have to say when kids like you ask them
what it’s really like to be an FBI agent
And while you’re at it, do a few reality checks, investigate
some resources, and test your skill at some pop quizzes. Ready for
more? Bring on the virtual FBI-agent-for-a-day experience and
find out for yourself what it’s really like to be an FBI agent. You’ll
be amazed to discover all the things you can do in the FBI.
Are you ready to help solve the crime?

C H A P T e R 1
“Don’t shoot, G-men! Don’t shoot!”
No… that’s not just a line from an old movie. It’s one ver-
sion of the legend of how “Machine Gun” Kelly, one of the
most notorious mobsters of the 1920s and 1930s, was cap-
tured by Memphis police and federal agents. “Machine Gun”
CHeCK IT
Kelly was obviously a little surprised when armed police and
OUT FBI agents stormed into a house and captured him in 1933.
John Dillinger, then known as “public enemy number one,”
was equally surprised when, in 1934, he came out of a Chi-
Learn more cago movie theater to fi nd himself surrounded by FBI agents.

about the gangsters Three of the agents shot him dead on the street.
of the lawless years,
Kelly and Dillinger were just two of the mobsters and gang-
including what they
did and how the sters who fl ourished in the 1920s and 1930s, a period often
FPO
FBI captured them:
called the “lawless years.” In those days, gangster referred to
http://www.fbi
members of criminal gangs, not the hip-hop music and styles
.gov/libref/historic/
famcases/famcases the word is used for today. And, in those days, the FBI was
.htm.
known as the Bureau of Investigation. The organization had
several different names before it offi cially became the Federal
Bureau of Investigation in 1935.
There are many different versions of stories about the
gangsters of those years. One lasting result of the “Machine
6
cure for crime
“The
electric chair
the
is not , but the
chair
high
.”
—J. Edgar HoovEr, First FBi dirEctor
Gun” Kelly story is that the term G-Man, which
had long been a slang word for any government
agent, soon came to stand only for the heroic
FBI agents who tracked down criminals and
brought them to justice.
The Lawless Years
Some of the more powerful gangsters of that
time were colorful characters, and the public
knew about them in the same way as we know
about some of the organized crime figures of
today. Those well-known gangsters included Al
Capone (known as “Scarface”), Charles “Pretty
Boy” Floyd, Lester “Baby Face” Nelson, Jack
“Legs” Diamond, and Charlie “Lucky” Lucia-
no. Fortunately, many of the famous, as well as
the lesser known, gangsters had their careers
cut short through the work of the FBI.
The gangsters rose to power with Prohibi-
tion, a period from 1920 to 1933 when the U.S.
government outlawed the manufacture, sale,
and transportation of alcohol. Many people
did not support Prohibition and refused to give
up their liquor. Criminals saw this as a golden
opportunity. They made their own alcohol and
smuggled it into this country from Canada and
Mexico, where it was legal to make it. Gangster John Dillinger, once known
The illegal alcohol business was huge, and as “public enemy number one.”
it required a lot of workers for manufacturing

Virtual apprentice: FBI A genT
and distribution. Illegal alcohol was also extremely profi table.
Some of the more ambitious criminals realized that if they orga-
nized their activities to work in the style of legitimate companies
it would be easier to get the workers they needed and to force
their competitors out of business.
The gangsters were very serious about getting rid of their
competitors. For example, the gang run by Al Capone was not
happy that “Bugs” Moran’s gang was doing business in the
area that they had claimed for themselves. Their solution to
this problem came to be known as the famous St. Valentine’s
Day Massacre of 1929. Al Capone’s men,
disguised as police offi cers, lured seven
Who Does What?
members of Moran’s gang into a garage
and gunned them down in cold blood.
The FBI is not the only agency that protects Gangsters didn’t limit themselves to
America and its citizens. crimes involving alcohol. John Dillinger
The Secret Service, for example, provides earned his standing as “public enemy num-
security for the president of the United ber one” in part by using his gang to rob
States and for presi- fi ve banks in less than four months. Each
CHeCK IT dential candidates. time Dillinger and his gang were captured
It also investigates for a crime, they escaped from jail. In the
OUT
counterfeiting. The process they shot and killed police offi -
Central Intelligence cers, prison guards, a sheriff, and an FBI
Agency (CIA) collects agent. They took hostages, stole weapons
information regarding citizens of foreign and bulletproof vests from three different
countries who may be spying on us here or police departments, and used a sheriff’s
in their own countries. car to escape. Once Dillinger crossed state
See what else these agencies do at their lines in the stolen car, FBI agents had
Web sites: the authority to go after him, which they
promptly did.
Central Intelligence Agency https://

There were many gangsters who were
www.cia.gov/kids-page/index.html
just a little too slick for the local police.
Secret Service http://www Some moved to another state, counting on

.secretservice.gov/kids_faq.shtml the fact that the police didn’t have enough
information to track them down. The FBI,
Department of Justice http://
however, had more sophisticated investi-
www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/kidspage/
gation methods, as well as the authority
index.html
to track gangsters whose criminal activi-
ties involved more than one state. So FBI
8
the FBi: then and now
agents went after criminals who thought they were safe when
they were “on the lam.”
How It All Started
Although the FBI established its reputation during those lawless
years, the agency actually began in 1908. Before that, most crimes
were investigated at the state or local level. Crimes committed on
federal property or crimes that violated a federal law, however,
were the responsibility of the attorney general (the country’s top
lawyer, law enforcement offi cer, and head of the Department of
Justice). Because the attorney general did not have anyone to
work on these crimes, he would hire private detectives or use
investigators from other agencies, such as the Secret Service.
In 1908, Congress ruled that the federal government could
FUn
no longer use Secret Service agents. Attorney General Charles
Bonaparte, with the permission of President Theodore Roosevelt,
created a “bureau” of 34 special agents to work for the Depart- FACTOID
ment of Justice. Even though the group didn’t have an offi cial
name, these former detectives and Secret Service agents were the
fi rst FBI agents.
The FBI
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the is usually
FBI (then called the Bureau of Investigation) looked for spies looking for 12,000
and people who did not register for military service as they were different criminals
required to do. The bureau’s responsibility was soon increased to at any one time. Not
include motor vehicle thefts and crimes that affected more than all of them qualify
one state. As transportation and communication became easier, for the Ten Most
more and more criminals crossed state lines, and by the 1920s, Wanted list.
the bureau had grown to 300 special agents and 300 support em-
ployees, with fi eld offi ces set up around the country.
During and following World War II, the FBI increased its size
even more and focused its resources on monitoring America’s
enemies with investigations to keep its foes from learning na-
tional secrets. When the United States became the fi rst nation
to develop nuclear weapons, it became especially important to
make sure foreign spies did not learn how these weapons were
made.
After a while, the bureau’s priorities moved back to crime,
which remained the priority until 1993. Between 1993 and 1996,
terrorism was a big issue for the United States, and the FBI solved
9