Fact and Fiction about the FBI: A Writer’s Guide

 

by Kenneth Strange, Jr.

As a former FBI agent and true crime author, I seem to be more in demand for speaking engagements than ever before.  However, to set the record straight, I will often begin a talk debunking FBI myths including the notion that we FBI agents have experience working in the realm of the supernatural and paranormal phenomena like on the X-FILES.

We don’t!

What I can acknowledge is that files exist on some unusual phenomena—like cattle mutilation, UFOs, and Roswell. But only because someone reported something and we, at the FBI, made a note for the record.

FBI agents chasing alien creatures makes for great entertainment. But is better left to the Hollywood producers and super sleuths — Agents Mulder and Scully.

A TYPICAL DAY IN THE FBI?

There is no typical workday in the FBI.

An FBI agent’s activities will depend on the squad to which to which the agent has been assigned. A Fugitive squad’s workday is vastly different from the Bank Robbery Squad’s. Which is different from that of a Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) Squad.

FBI agents enforce many different federal laws and perform various roles in the Bureau.

Agents in the field offices could be testifying in federal court one day and executing a search warrant the next. Over the course of a week, they might 1) meet with a source to gather intelligence on illegal activities. 2) effect an arrest. 3) Then head back to the office to talk with squad members and catch up on paperwork.

My line of work was somewhat different. Instead of pursuing criminal violations, I worked on JTTF intelligence matters.  I might be assigned to a surveillance or follow leads and cultivate “sources” in order to prevent terrorism.

I was available to work on a collateral duty such as Cuban intelligence matters. But other squads could ask me to participate in an arrest or lie in wait at night waiting for an armed bank robber to make a withdrawal.

I’ve also seconded to a drug squad where I ‘sat on a wire’ for hours, sometimes days, eavesdropping on Colombian money launderers. No one day was ever alike.

FORENSIC FACT VS FICTION

FBI cases or investigations appear to move at the speed of light in books, on TV and in the movies.  On TV shows, these cases can run their course in an hour (or less with commercials).

This has led to the “CSI effect” where forensic crime scenes are analyzed quickly and efficiently resulting in a tidy evidence package while featuring cutting-edge technology.

In real life, an FBI’s Evidence Response Team (ERT) can spend up to 16 hours processing a bloody crime scene, take hundreds of photos and utilize a less sophisticated but just as effective forensic technique.

The goal at a criminal trial in real life is to “Wow” a jury by erring on the side of “meticulous” and producing a tsunami of evidence.

ARROGANT FBI AGENTS

In the 1988 movie DIE HARD — you’ll recall the LAPD was negotiating with the terrorists until, who should appear, but the FBI.  Agents Johnson and Johnson haughtily inform the LAPD, “We’ll take it from here.” Then they seize control of the situation with dire consequences.

It certainly is good for a laugh but it’s way off the mark. That’s not how the FBI interacts with other law enforcement organizations, especially during a crisis.

In the 1998 movie RUSH HOUR — an LAPD officer who is working with the FBI is made to appear both “out of his league” and a “second-class citizen” compared to his FBI counterparts.

My own experience on C-10, a high-profile JTTF squad, was a sterling example of law enforcement cooperation at its best.  Our squad had eight FBI agents, a Secret Service agent, a Homeland Security Agent and three New Jersey State Troopers.  We got along famously and became an effective team.

During my 21-year federal career, I do not recall the FBI ever attempting to outshine, intimidate, hog the spotlight or wrest control of an investigation away from its local, state or federal counterparts — not once.

The FBI I knew made a conscious effort to involve its partners and pool investigative resources, manpower, and technology. They also heaped praise on these counterparts when warranted. In many instances, the FBI and its local, state and federal partners, will form a Task Force with members who specialize in different areas of law enforcement. When I left the FBI for another federal agency, I took this cooperative attitude with me and, frankly, it served me well for the rest of my career.

FBI AGENTS AS ANDROIDS

Agents seem to get a bad rap these days.  For example, these hybrid CIA/FBI male agents will show up in the fictional universe of The Matrix franchise wearing black suits, ties and dark sunglasses while protecting their world from those who would threaten it.

These agents are depicted as powerful and controlling bureaucratic avatars devoid of feelings or humanity.

Former FBI founder and Director, J. Edgar Hoover, had a hand in creating the stereotype of an FBI Special Agent or “G-Man.” But, in truth, the FBI has evolved greatly over the years since Agents were white collar and tie employees.

Personally, I recall being dressed down by a supervisor for wearing a leather jacket to work. “Lose the leather, Strange,” he groused.  However, these days, the FBI dress and workplace seems to be more “Casual.”

The FBI agents I knew and worked with were a dedicated bunch serving and protecting the American public.  Most were empathetic and hardly robotic.

I’m not embarrassed to admit I shed a few tears when a Russian defector I had befriended killed himself; an FBI colleague from the St. Louis Field Office was first to the scene of a bank robbery and held the hand of a young female bank teller who was dying from a gunshot wound. It’s still hard for him to talk about it.

DO AGENTS PROSECUTE CASES?

In fact, it is not the role of the FBI to prosecute cases but that of the Department of Justice and its US Attorney’s Office.

FBI agents will meet with a federal prosecutor, aka Assistant US attorney (AUSA) They will discuss the management, plan of investigation and ways of obtaining evidence to build a criminal case.

However, at the end of the day, it is the AUSA who will prosecute the case and not the FBI.

POLITICS IN FBI CULTURE

I knew co-workers in the office and on my squad who exercised their right to vote for the candidate of their choice, but I never once heard anyone foisting their politics on colleagues.

That’s not to say politics doesn’t raise its ugly head.

It has occurred from time to time and, amplified by social media, can sound shrill and petty.  But most of us at the FBI have always refrained from injecting our political or religious beliefs and biases into the mission. The American public deserves no less.

RESOURCES TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FBI AGENTS

1) Visit websites FBI.gov and FBIJobs.gov

2) Read Books Written by FBI Agents

Another way to obtain accurate information about the FBI is to read books about the FBI written by FBI agents.   There are some excellent FBI books out there:  Joe Pistone’s, Donny Brasco, Ali Soufan’s The Black Banners, Ed Mireles’s FBI Miami Firefight as well as FBI profilers John Douglas, Mindhunter, and Mark Safarik, Spree Killers just to name a few. Oh, and I suppose you can read my own book, A Cop’s Son.

3) If Possible, Go to the Source and Talk to an Agent

While researching my book, I spoke with more than a hundred federal agents, many of them FBI agents.  In putting together my true crime memoir I found out that retired and former “Feds” enjoy and relish talking about their “war stories,” while describing the roles they played in service to their country.

Don’t be shy.  Seek out contact with an FBI agent and fire away.  He or she may not be able to talk candidly about national security matters but most likely can talk about everything else.

4) Office of Public Affairs

Every major FBI field office has a media representative working for the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs (OPA).  Authors, producers, and screen writers can contact and speak with Public Affairs reps about questions pertaining to the FBI and FBI agents.

The OPA will help writers in order to ensure accuracy in their projects.

by Kenneth Strange, Jr. (@strangetemplars) February 11th, 2024

What about you, scriveners? Did you harbor some stereotypes of agents that this helps to dispel? I think this information can help writers in a number of genres, not just mysteries and thrillers. Have you written about the Federal Bureau of Investigation in any of your writing?

 

KENNETH STRANGE JR. 

Kenneth Strange Jr. is a former FBI and DOJ Special Agent and Supervisor, Private Investigator and Award-Winning author.  A Spanish-speaker and member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), he has recently published a Best-Selling true crime memoir, “A Cop’s Son: One G-Man’s Fight Against Jihad, Global Fraud and the Cartels.” 

A native New Yorker, Strange served with three distinct and distinguished US Government agencies pursuing criminals and bad actors including some of the most heinous villains in the world. His service to those agencies brought him into direct conflict with Jihadists, International Fraudsters, and the Cartels.

In his latest book, Special Agent Strange takes the reader behind fortress-like doors into a secret world of terrorists, financial predators and sicarios. This captivating memoir has not only been heartily endorsed by former NYPD Police Commissioners Ray Kelly and Bill Bratton but is being hailed as “required reading” by the CIA’s Inspector General.

Kenneth Strange’s  hobbies include hiking, reading and traveling. He is married to an RN, has twin adult children and lives in Ventura County, California. He recently became a grandfather for the first time.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The hardcover book is available at Amazon

(It’s not yet available in paperback or ebook)

Let me take you behind fortress-like doors into a secret world of terrorists, financial predators and sicarios.

“For those who are beginning a career as a federal agent, you should consider this book ‘required reading.’ And for those who are veteran agents, you will find much to learn here.”

—Peter Usowski, Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

 

“A Cop’s Son is both a gripping and great page-turning read!”

–Ray Kelly, two time NYPD Police Commissioner and author of Vigilance

“A Cop’s Son is a fast moving and compelling memoir bound to entertain any reader!”

–Bill Bratton, NYPD Police Commissioner, LAPD Police Chief and author of The Profession