Salaries for fbi special agents: Page Not Found | Glassdoor

Опубликовано: December 16, 2022 в 8:04 am

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Категории: Miscellaneous

FBI Special Agent Salary Dallas, Texas, United States


Average Base Salary


Average Hourly Rate

$48.76 (USD)/hr


Average Bonus

$2,972 (USD)/yr

Compensation Data Based on Experience

The average fbi special agent gross salary in Dallas, Texas is $101,426 or an equivalent hourly rate of $49. This is 3% higher (+$3,202) than the average fbi special agent salary in the United States. In addition, they earn an average bonus of $2,972. Salary estimates based on salary survey data collected directly from employers and anonymous employees in Dallas, Texas. An entry level fbi special agent (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of $71,402. On the other end, a senior level fbi special agent (8+ years of experience) earns an average salary of $125,780.


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ERI’s compensation data are based on salary surveys conducted and researched by ERI. Cost of labor data in the Assessor Series are based on actual housing sales data from commercially available sources, plus rental rates, gasoline prices, consumables, medical care premium costs, property taxes, effective income tax rates, etc.

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Estimated Salary in 2027:

$113,085 (USD)



5 Year Change:

11 %

Based on our compensation data, the estimated salary potential for FBI Special Agent will increase 11 % over 5 years.


This chart displays the highest level of education for:
FBI Special Agent, the majority at 55% with bachelors.


Typical Field of Study: Criminal Justice/Police Science

See how education can impact your salary

  • Columbus



    5.2 %

  • Los Angeles



    8. 8 %

  • St. Louis



    4.2 %

  • New York



    6.6 %

  • Pennsylvania



    3. 4 %

  • West Virginia



    15.6 %

  • Bulgaria



    431.2 %

  • Canada



    25 %

  • China



    140. 6 %

  • Japan



    58.5 %

Dallas, Texas

The cost of living in Dallas, Texas is 9% more than the average cost of living in the United States. Cost of living is calculated based on accumulating the cost of food, transportation, health services, rent, utilities, taxes, and miscellaneous.

View Cost of Living Page


Dallas is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County in the U. S. state of Texas with portions extending into Collin, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. With a 2020 census population of 1,304,379, it is the ninth most-populous city in the U.S. and the third-largest in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. Located in…

Sourced from Wikipedia

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Investigates alleged or suspected criminal violations of federal, state, or local laws to determine if evidence is sufficient to recommend prosecution. Examines charge, complaint, or allegation of law violation to identify issues involved and types of evidence needed. Assists in determining scope, timing, and direction of investigation. Develops and uses informants to get leads to information. Interviews, observes, and interrogates… suspects and witnesses and analyzes records to secure evidence or establish facts. Examines records to detect links in chain of evidence or information. Uses cameras and photostatic machines to record evidence and documents. Verifies information obtained to establish accuracy and authenticity of facts and evidence. Maintains surveillances and performs undercover assignments. Presents findings in clear, logical, impartial, and properly documented reports. Reports critical information to and coordinates activities with other offices or agencies when applicable. Testifies before grand juries. Serves subpoenas or other official papers. May lead or coordinate work of other special agents. May obtain and use search and arrest warrants. May serve on full-time, detail, or rotational protection assignments. May carry firearms and make arrests. May be designated according to agency worked for as special agent, fbi; special agent, irs; special agent, secret service.
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  • Criminal Investigator

  • Special Agent Secret Services

  • Special Agent FBI

  • Special Agent IRS

  • Crime Scene Investigator

  • Government Service Special Agent


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Quickly search for salaries in other careers and locations in our salary database.


Job Title

City, State, Country or US Zip Code

This page is a promotion for SalaryExpert’s Assessor Series and is not intended for professional use.

Professionals should subscribe to SalaryExpert’s Assessor Platform.

ERI’s compensation data are based on salary surveys conducted and researched by ERI. Cost of labor data in the Assessor Series are based on actual housing sales data from commercially available sources, plus rental rates, gasoline prices, consumables, medical care premium costs, property taxes, effective income tax rates, etc.

  • Columbus



    5.2 %

  • Los Angeles



    8. 8 %

  • St. Louis



    4.2 %

  • New York



    6.6 %

  • Pennsylvania



    3. 4 %

  • West Virginia



    15.6 %

  • Bulgaria



    431.2 %

  • Canada



    25 %

  • China



    140. 6 %

  • Japan



    58.5 %

Learn About Our Products


SalaryExpert, powered by ERI, provides verified salary and cost of living data to the public with a comprehensive platform for evaluating compensation, career, relocation, and education decisions.

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  • Criminal Investigator

  • Special Agent Secret Services

  • Special Agent FBI

  • Special Agent IRS

  • Crime Scene Investigator

  • Government Service Special Agent

Special agent salary ‐ CareerExplorer

The average salary for a special agent in the United States is around $83,640 per year.

$48k Bottom 20%

$83.6k Median

$146.8k Top 20%

Special agents earn an average yearly salary of $83,640.
Wages typically start from $48,040 and go up to $146,830.

33% above national average ● Updated in 2021

In this article:

  1. How much does a special agent make in the United States?
  2. How do special agent salaries compare to similar careers

Special agent earnings by seniority

Approximate values based on highest and lowest earning segments.

Special agent salary by state

State Name Average Salary
New Jersey $99,880
New York $99,630
Hawaii $99,580
Colorado $97,980
Massachusetts $97,980
Illinois $97,300
Connecticut $94,670
Virginia $93,520
Vermont $91,580
Arizona $91,350
Puerto Rico $88,880
Montana $83,640
Michigan $81,850
Wisconsin $81,850
Texas $81,170
New Hampshire $80,140
Iowa $78,710
Minnesota $78,670
Pennsylvania $78,540
Nevada $78,330
Rhode Island $78,330
West Virginia $78,250
Ohio $77,580
Delaware $77,480
New Mexico $77,480
Maine $76,910
North Dakota $76,730
Nebraska $73,550
Utah $69,010
Wyoming $68,730
Florida $67,930
Idaho $64,610
Kentucky $64,610
South Dakota $63,960
Alabama $62,380
Oklahoma $61,190
Tennessee $61,190
Indiana $60,850
Georgia $60,550
Missouri $60,520
Kansas $60,500
Louisiana $57,660
North Carolina $55,910
South Carolina $51,770
Mississippi $48,040
Arkansas $47,580
District of Columbia $133,930
Alaska $133,600
Maryland $113,360
California $104,060
Washington $101,860
Oregon $100,330

How do special agent salaries compare to similar careers?

Special agents earn 9% less than similar careers in the United States.

On average, they make less than judges but more than
sheriffs.

Career Median Salary
Judge salary

$148K

Compliance manager salary

$125K

Hearing officer salary

$103K

Special agent salary

$84K

Customs inspector salary

$84K

Detective salary

$84K

Coroner salary

$72K

Sheriff salary

$65K

Source: CareerExplorer (Aggregated)

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Salaries For FBI Special Agent

No Comments on Salaries For FBI Special AgentPosted in Salary Guide By SamuelPosted on

The FBI’s special agents possess one of the most prestigious and well-recognized positions in the most covert organization; they are frequently referred to as the “face of America.” They carry out criminal and national security investigations while enforcing federal laws in both overt and covert roles, all to safeguard the American people and uphold the U.S. Constitution, which they have sworn an oath to defend. Only the best of the best are chosen to serve as special agents, but for those who succeed in obtaining this highly sought-after post, the benefits are rather amazing – both professionally and financially. Let us know more detail about ‘Salaries For FBI Special Agent’.

The average income for an FBI special agent in the US is $76,919, with salaries ranging from $59,066 to $105,754 according to several salary aggregate websites. The GL-10 pay grade, with ten steps within it landing at regular intervals between $51,921 and $66,996, is where new FBI special agents start their careers.

FBI Agent Sector:

Within the federal government is the FBI. Special agents work a full-time schedule and they might need to travel or put in additional hours to conclude a case. There are several bases for the FBI spread out around the nation. After completing training, special agents may be assigned to any of the workplaces, however, they can raise special requests.

Education Requirements for FBI Special Agents:

The FBI has stringent requirements for applicants. A bachelor’s degree and two years of specialized job experience are requirements for all applicants. If the candidate possesses a master’s or doctoral degree, one year of professional experience is acceptable.

Although the FBI does not mandate that applicants pursue a particular profession or subject of study, preference may be given to select specialities depending on the needs of the organisation. According to the FBI, some of the fields that will be in demand by 2021 are science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), languages, law, cybersecurity, finance, accounting, healthcare, and psychology.

Employment Trend:

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for police officers and detectives as a whole is predicted to increase by 5% between 2019 and 2029. This is a 1% increase over the overall average. The federal budget and the FBI’s requirements, however, may have an influence on the rate of job growth in the organisation.

Plans for FBI Benefits:

The FBI provides retirement benefits, as well as health and life insurance, to its workers. With fewer than three years of service, FBI personnel earn 13 days of leave annually; from three to fifteen years of service, they earn 20 days; and from sixteen years or more of service, they earn 26 days. 13 days of paid sick time are allotted to FBI workers each year. Other perks include sabbaticals, flexible work hours, in-house training, and outside educational possibilities.

What factors affect pay?

Education, experience and the location of the position all play a role in determining an FBI Special Agent’s pay. Let’s examine these elements’ effects on compensation in more detail :

Duration of the experience:

Under normal circumstances, the level of experience or cases solved influences payment increases. In general, you may expect to earn more incentives as an FBI special agent the longer you work there. According to a survey, your experience and performance might have an impact on your FBI special agent income.

Degree of expertise: Entry-level compensation 

  1. Entry-level (less than 1 year): $45,024
  2. Initial career (1 to 4 years): $55,969
  3. Mid careers (5 to 9 years): $78,732
  4. Experienced (10 to 19 years): $96,385
  5. Late Career (20+ years): $125,758

Location: 

Your place of residence may have an impact on the salary you might expect as an FBI special agent. Working in a major city is typically associated with a greater wage in addition to a higher living cost.

How to earn more money as an FBI special agent?

Now that you are aware of the potential compensation range for an FBI special agent, let’s look at some strategies for increasing it.

Develop your abilities:

You might be in a better position to compete for raises and higher-paying opportunities if you pursue and improve in-demand talents. Among these abilities are:

  1. Investigative Techniques: Be aware of the proper ways to carry out observation, interviews, and interrogations.
  2. Case Management: Organize and manage case files, evidence, and witnesses using case management techniques.
  3. Correct Use of Force: Know when and how to employ force, including the proper use of weapons, while performing your job.
  4. Writing a Report: Write reports that are succinct and clearly explain the findings of your research.
  5. Testimonials: Provide neutral and reliable testimony when testifying in court.

Discuss your employment offer:

Make careful to haggle over your pay when the FBI offers you a position. Negotiation is flexible because the FBI provides a wide variety of pay. Other advantages like vacation time or a signing bonus are also negotiable.

Consult hiring managers:

The best method to find out about expected pay if you’re interested in working as an FBI Special Agent is to speak with a recruiter. They will be able to provide you with information on the starting pay for the role as well as any potential future raises in pay.There are highly rigorous pay scales in government employment that are utilized to calculate how much an FBI agent might make. One can apply and stay in the agency for a short while with sufficient intelligence, presence of mind, and physical strength.

Conclusion

The FBI’s main office is in Washington, D. C., but several field offices, both domestic and abroad, allow it to operate daily all over the world. Each FBI agent’s needed amount of travel is mostly determined by their position and the agency’s needs. The FBI employs special agents with expertise in accounting to conduct criminal investigations. Accountants can manage finances and budgets on the administrative side of the business. The general schedule salary table, which is used for all federal employees overseen by the Office of Personnel Management, governs how the FBI pays its staff.

The FBI is an example for all special services / Diplomatic Newspaper / Nezavisimaya Gazeta

The events of September 11, 2001, in addition to the rapprochement of the political elites of Russia and the United States, led to unprecedented cooperation between the intelligence services of both countries in terms of scale and depth. John Di Stasio, FBI representative in Russia, talks about how specialists from the Federal Bureau of Investigation interact with Russian partners, as well as about other aspects of the organization’s activities.

The FBI representative considers work in Russia to be extremely important for reducing crime in his country.
Photo by Fred Greenberg (NG photo)

– Vladimir Putin, in one of his first interviews, spoke about how he had been striving to get a job in the KGB since his teenage years. But this organization, according to him, rejects volunteers, selecting personnel at its own discretion. Does the FBI have similar replenishment principles? How did you personally get to work in the Bureau?

– I joined the FBI over 20 years ago. Since then, I have had two main destinations: in New York and at the Bureau’s headquarters in Washington. My main specialization is organized crime in Italy, as well as Europe in general and Asia. Additional specialization – shooting instructor, linguistic training and hostage negotiation. He received two diplomas – in the field of criminal psychology and economics. Previously, I served in the Marine Corps, I have the classification of a parachutist. At 1969-1970 served in Vietnam.

My life goal has always been to work as an FBI agent, because I believed and still believe that the Bureau is one of the best organizations of this type in the world.

People of various processions are in demand to work as special agents of the Bureau: financiers and accountants, computer scientists and engineers, linguists. We welcome former army and police officers with military experience. The most suitable age for candidates is between 23 and 37 years old. And, of course, they must have university or college degrees. Many of them have two diplomas of higher education, or even more.

After receiving the documents, applicants undergo a series of tests and exams, including a lie detector test. Of course, they must be in very good physical shape.

After all candidates have passed the tests, a very lengthy and serious process of checking their background begins. It involves a detailed study of the recommendations of candidates, their lifestyle, the state of their finances.

After hiring, new recruits must complete a specialized training course at the FBI Academy in Virginia. After that, they commit themselves to accepting any assignment in any geographic area of ​​the world according to the need for duty.

This entire FBI recruiting and recruiting process is designed to eliminate the possibility of underqualified or suspicious candidates in any way.

The process of recruitment and further selection in the Bureau is very strict and is built solely on the basis of competition, since from 50 to 70 thousand people annually express their desire to work with us.

For most applicants, working at the FBI is not the beginning, but the continuation of a professional career. Therefore, the average age of applicants is over 30 years. It is upon reaching this age that people, as a rule, are already professionally established, with a formed personality, they have a certain life baggage behind them, which, among other things, allows them to test their personal qualities. After completing a course at the FBI Academy, newcomers undergo a two-year probationary period.

As for your question about who is looking for whom, and comparison with the practice of recruiting personnel in the KGB-FSB, then, firstly, the FBI is much smaller than the FSB: we now have only a little over 10 thousand special agents. And the admission process to the Bureau, although quite strict, even tough, is at the same time open and competitive. Any American can express a desire to work with us and has the opportunity to pass our admissions tests. We do not see anything wrong or suspicious in the fact that this or that citizen has expressed a desire to work in the Bureau.

– Which of the personal qualities of newcomers do you consider to be dominant? Does it have to be a James Bond-type superman?

– We believe that the best candidates are people who are balanced, reasonable, mature in mind and soul, frank, direct, honest, conscientious, conscientious, intelligent, quick-witted, able to work in a team, capable of both following orders and giving them. A very important quality is common sense.

– You have drawn a portrait of an almost perfect person. Are there many such among ordinary people? Are you setting the bar too high?

– Indeed, my portrait is similar to the ideal. There are few such people. But these are precisely the qualities that the employees of the Bureau should possess to one degree or another.

– One of the phobias of the sick Ernest Hemingway in the last years of his life was surveillance of him by FBI agents, which, by the way, was later confirmed. We know the confrontation between the advanced part of the American intelligentsia and the FBI in those years when the Bureau was headed by Edgar Hoover. In Russia, a significant part of the population both respects employees of the special services – for their alleged disinterestedness and patriotism, and is afraid, remembering the repressions of the Soviet era, while the intelligentsia mostly dislikes, though not very much advertising their feelings. How do you treat FBI officers in your country?

– The general public attitude towards the Bureau is generally positive. But it is no secret that for some part of our population, the FBI is an organization of a somewhat contradictory nature. In some cases, people believe that we have much more power and opportunities to exercise it than we actually have. In particular, the Bureau attracted attention as a result of the well-known cases of infiltration of our employees into various criminal groups. Some of the intelligentsia are suspicious of this: if agents managed to infiltrate such closed organizations as mafias, then they, they say, could also infiltrate open public ones. Moreover, in the history of the FBI there were cases when it was accused of illegal collection of intelligence and other materials.

But in general, the attitude of Americans towards what we do is positive, and they have a fairly complete understanding of our work, because we strive to be as open – as possible – to society.

– In what cases and who can get – and for how long – “under the hood”, that is, in the FBI file? In one of the Russian encyclopedias about the United States, I read that the Bureau’s archive allegedly stores data on tens of millions of Americans, almost from adolescence. To what extent does this correspond to reality?

– We do not collect dossiers on our fellow citizens “just in case”, indiscriminately suspecting each and every one of the sins. All we have is information related to the investigation of certain incidents, violations of the law. People not involved in crimes, but who fell into the orbit of our interest as witnesses, victims or assistants in the investigation of specific cases, are recorded only by their last names and first names, without any other extended information.

– Whose fingerprints do the FBI archives hold? Only criminals?

– Not only criminals, but also those who turned them in during the pre-employment screening process related to security clearance.

– And what will you do with the fingerprints of foreign visitors to the United States, which are now mandatory?

– Well, this is such a new system that we don’t yet know how it will function in the future.

– What changes have occurred in the work of the FBI since the events of September 11, 2001? How does your activity correlate with the work of the Ministry of National Security created under the influence of these events?

– After 9/11, there were fundamental changes in the activities of the FBI. Our resources are now focused on one common goal – the prevention of any terrorist attacks both on US territory and in those areas of the world where the interests of our country may be affected. And, accordingly, the collection of intelligence information is also now subordinated to this new goal.

Our partnerships with foreign colleagues are subject to the same global goal. The FBI continues to be the leading counterterrorism organization in the United States. But now we are cooperating more closely with the CIA in matters of countering terrorism and are coordinating our activities in this direction with all law enforcement agencies of the country.

We are still accountable to the Department of Justice, not part of the newly created Department of Homeland Security, but we work very closely with it, especially since such important services as immigration and customs have been merged into its structure. In addition, the Ministry includes the Coast Guard, Border Patrol and Transportation Security.

– You said that you specialize in European and Asian organized crime. At the same time, the FBI, according to its charter, has purely domestic functions. How does it fit? Are you looking for and monitoring the origins and contacts of those foreign-language criminal gangs that operate in the United States?

– I am interested in the part of the activities of criminal groups in Europe and Asia that they carry out in the United States. Nowadays organized crime is a phenomenon, as a rule, international. For it there are no boundaries, no distances, but there are only specific and very greedy interests. And we cooperate very closely with colleagues from law enforcement agencies of other countries, in particular, Russia.

– Apparently, you are already familiar with the Russian expression “werewolves in uniform”, which has become very frequently used in our media in recent months?

– Yes, of course. In my opinion, the leadership of your Ministry of Internal Affairs is determined to eliminate this problem. I think that over time this goal will be achieved.

– Did something similar happen inside the FBI?

– I am not aware of any such cases in the Bureau. But, like the rest of the special services, we hire representatives of the same human race into our ranks. Accordingly, sometimes we also had cases related to corruption or misconduct by law enforcement officers. But they happened in several large police stations. And the FBI took part in the investigation of such incidents, some of which I personally directed.

In this sense, I also have personal experience as such a victim, which I became as a child. The fact is that my father, by profession – an ordinary factory worker, often took me with him to work on weekends. One morning, our car was stopped by a policeman who accused my father of running a red light through an intersection. But my father was a very careful driver, and I saw that we passed the intersection in accordance with all the rules. But the policeman did not want to listen to my father’s excuses and yelled at him for a long time, and then, more quietly, added that the problem could be solved with $20. The father only laughed out loud in response, since he only had $ 2 in his wallet at that moment. The policeman did not believe this and demanded to see the wallet. When he saw that there really were only 2 pieces of paper for 1 dollar each, he calmly took our last money and left home. I remember this incident for the rest of my life, although 44 years have passed since then. I was then 8 years old.

– Both here in Moscow and in the USA, I heard a lot from politicians and from your colleagues from the special services about how intensively and productively the partnership between the intelligence and counterintelligence agencies of both countries has been developing in the last 2-3 years. But further than these vague phrases, as a rule, no one went, meaningfully shrugging their hands: they say, you yourself understand that the sphere of our activity is forcedly covered with a veil of secrecy. Can you really cite a single case from your practice of cooperation with Russian colleagues?

– I’ll try. For example, we recently became aware of attempts by a group of individuals to acquire a portable anti-aircraft gun in Russia for its subsequent use in the United States in order to shoot down military or civilian aircraft. It was a very long and difficult investigation, which, probably, would never have ended successfully if it were not for the help of our colleagues from the FSB.

During the course of the investigation, FBI and FSB officers moved from Moscow to New Jersey and back, jointly planning and carrying out the operation. FSB officers were present in New Jersey last August when the main defendant in this case was arrested. And then we continued together to conduct this important investigation, which attracted attention in high political circles, which has not been fully completed even now.

Another fresh case. Your Interior Ministry officers have taken an active part in investigating the New York subway bomb threat. The message about this came to the United States through a computer network and was formulated with a large number of details, which caused very serious concerns on the part of the authorities in New York and the relevant services. In connection with the expectation of this attack, emergency measures were taken to prevent terrorist attacks and improve overall security in the city.

Since the warning received indicated that the bomb would be detonated the very next day, at 11 am, the officers of our Bureau and your Ministry of Internal Affairs had to work all night to determine the source of the threat, which, according to our information, was in Russia. And 2 hours before the alleged “hour X” in Barnaul, a man was discovered who sent a formidable, but, as it turned out, fake message to the United States.

This “joke” cost the American treasury a significant amount, because the authorities and intelligence agencies cannot guess how significant this or that threat is, they are forced to take any message of this kind seriously and quickly respond to it, taking measures of increased security. For example, that night of the search for a potential intruder, hundreds of New York police officers spent in reinforced outfits, ready for the most unexpected development of events. The decisive role in the fact that both they and the representatives of the city authorities finally breathed a sigh of relief was played by our valiant colleagues from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It is curious that just 4 months ago, the Russian prosecutor’s office helped us a lot with the investigation of another story related to the same Barnaul. In Los Angeles, five immigrants from Russia were abducted and then killed. The case was very difficult. A group of FBI officers to investigate went from Los Angeles to Barnaul for joint action with the local prosecutor’s office. It should be noted that Russian prosecutors interrogated witnesses very skillfully, as a result of which additional important information was obtained.

– From time to time representatives of the American law enforcement agencies issue information to the media that certain, often very well-known, Russian politicians, officials or businessmen are suspected of receiving or laundering large bribes. For example, a few months ago, a private plane of one of the well-known Russian businessmen flying on vacation landed in the United States, and your colleagues subjected him to many hours of interrogation, after which they let him go home. How does this kind of activity fit into the overall profile of the FBI?

– The businessman you refer to was not suspected of any illegal activities. He was interrogated as part of our intelligence gathering work for one of our investigations. We are interested in those cases in which American laws are violated. We use every opportunity to interrogate witnesses, no matter what country they are from. Although, of course, they do not always have useful information for us.

– You are, among other things, a hostage negotiator. Is there a certain “golden rule” for the behavior of special services in such cases, or is a search for the appropriate option in each specific case?

– Each situation is very specific, and the relationship with the hostage-taking bandits is, as a rule, very complex and sometimes very lengthy negotiations, including compromises on both sides. Everything always depends on very specific circumstances, on the willingness of the criminals to engage in dialogue and the mutual ability to conduct it. Negotiations in such cases are a very delicate and delicate matter.

– You have been interacting with Russian colleagues for 8 years already, you know our realities. How did you assess the situation around Nord-Ost at the time? Do you think there were other options for resolving this case?

– In my opinion, the Russian special services did everything that could be done in that situation to save the hostages. They were forced to work in an unprecedented situation. The hostages then died precisely as a result of the actions of terrorists.

When I think of this story, I am reminded of an equally complex hostage case here in Texas. In our version, the FBI sent tear gas to the place where the hostages were. As a result of the action of the gas, people began to set themselves on fire. Some cases fall under the definition of “unintended consequences”.

– Do you know the composition of the gas used in Nord-Ost? It was the consequences of its use that led, according to a number of experts, to the death of many hostages.

– No, the composition of the gas is unknown to me.

– At that time, the authorities were blamed for the fact that the hostages who suffered from the action of the gas were not provided with medical assistance in a timely manner.

– Yes, the physical cause of death of many Nord-Ost hostages was precisely the use of this gas. But the gas was used just to free these people. Otherwise, the consequences could be completely different, unpredictable.

– You spent the last year almost continuously in Russia. Have you managed to visit other regions of the country besides Moscow? How do you assess the situation in Moscow and in Russia as a whole in terms of its criminogenicity?

– I am a native of New York, I am used to large city scales, so I feel very comfortable in your capital. I am truly delighted with the cultural life in Moscow, I enjoy visiting restaurants. When I have a rare free hour, I really like to wander the streets of Moscow, especially in winter. But the extreme employment, unfortunately, practically does not allow me to travel outside of Moscow.

As for the crime situation in your cities, I, as a professional from the special services, highly appreciate the work of the Moscow police in terms of ensuring public safety in the city. At the same time, there is a large presence of organized crime in your capital. Its representatives operate in many areas. Behind the killings and explosions is usually the desire to redistribute property or showdown between individual criminal gangs. The same thing happened at one time in the United States.

The level of training of representatives of organized crime in Russia – in every sense of the word: from a technical point of view, organizational and all others – is unusually high. It is much higher than that of their colleagues in other countries in which I have worked. But the essence is always the same: the leaders of criminal gangs seek to subjugate certain areas of the city to their influence, penetrate into many areas of business and take control over them, as a result of which they collect significant financial resources, which are subsequently used for corruption, to attract influential representatives of power to their side. This model of organized crime is widespread all over the world. Personally, I have seen such schemes in New York and Chicago.

– What shortcomings, in your opinion, are typical for the activities of the Moscow police?

– First of all, it is necessary to raise the salary of its employees, and the sooner the better. The very system of activity of law enforcement agencies is clearly developed, the leadership is on the right track. The whole point, I think, is precisely the need to improve the financial situation and technical equipment of lower and middle-level officers, which is very important for increasing the motivation of their activities.

– From time to time, noisy debates break out in the Russian media and among our politicians on the topic: is it possible and necessary to liberalize laws on the availability of firearms for the population? What can you say about this based on the American experience?

– Personally, I think that gun ownership rules in the US are too liberal. People don’t always realize that they can be killed with their own weapons. Not quite healthy, in my opinion, the desire of Americans to own personal weapons is incomprehensible to me.

– Do you consider this, as we say, a double-edged sword?

– Exactly.

– But does the possession of personal weapons by the population have at least a partial impact on the fight against crime?

– This is a very controversial issue. Judging by the statistics, personal weapons do not contribute much security to the lives of Americans. Yes, for some people, carrying a weapon gives them a sense of confidence. But this is a false feeling. When weapons appear in your home and members of your family, including children, can gain access to them, this threatens to bring misfortune to themselves or to others. Unfortunately, this is confirmed by numerous cases from the practice of my colleagues from the police. A weapon in your home can be discovered, for example, by a criminal who unexpectedly breaks into your place, who will get ahead of you with its use or use it in the future against other people. Therefore – believe me – it is much safer for everyone when the weapons are not in your home, but in places specially designed for this and with people specially trained to deal with them. And a completely different matter is the intended use and storage of hunting weapons at home.

– Of course, you are aware of the events around the Yukos company and its head Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Some Russian politicians and experts, while approving the current investigation into the company’s financial activities, see its violations, among other things, as a threat to national security. What is your take on this story? If something similar happened in the US, is there a place for the FBI to work here?

– It’s hard for me to say something about the case you mentioned, because I don’t have enough information about it. But, of course, cases of this kind can, in principle, be relevant to national security issues. I am convinced that certain types of organized crime crimes, in particular financial crimes, can have a devastating effect on national security.

For example, it is well known that for a number of years billions of dollars have been exported from Russia every year. If the Russian government and people had the opportunity to return this money, a lot of useful things could be done for the good of your country. In this sense, the loss of such a significant amount of financial resources has undoubtedly harmed the Russian economy and security.

The activities of organized criminal groups at the international level in the same way cause great damage to foreign economic relations, affect the stability of the world market. The loss of a huge amount of funds that are actually stolen from a number of countries can generally worsen the economic situation in the world, affect the course of economic development of individual countries and entire regions. The negative impact of this kind of economic crime is not limited to the level of national security, but goes to the level of international security.

How I discovered the FBI agents / Sudo Null IT News

In the new issue of the Black Archeology of Datamining, we will play a little spies. Let’s see what an ordinary Data Specialist can learn based on the data open on the network.

It all started with an article on Habré, that some anonymous hacker shared the data of FBI agents leaked to the network. I received this data, and began to look, what can be done with it? The data contains only the last name, first name, and service emails and phone number – a little information.

When I received this data, I saw that it ended with the letter J . That is, the dataset is not complete. I wonder what its full size is? To find out it, you need to build statistics on the frequency of occurrence of surnames.

To do this, I started looking for sets of American surnames, and then a discovery awaited me – in America you can find open data on, say, state voters – as I understand it, completely legally. For example, in half an hour I get the data of all Utah voters without any problems.

This is much more interesting! If in the first dataset we had only the last name, first name and one letter of the “patronymic” (here I call the middle name a patronymic, although this is a little different), now we can find much more information on the FBI agent – for example, a postal address, full name, age, political preferences. So let’s get started.

First, let’s evaluate the completeness of the dataset (which is where my research began). We build statistics on the occurrence of surnames in the state of Utah, then sum it up, and look at what proportion of surnames up to the letter J. It turns out that we have about half of all the data, more precisely 43% . The full list of agents would be 50,000 entries. Yes, if anyone needs it, here is the frequency distribution of American surnames:

Total entries Frequency A 128934 0. 030 B 401048 0.093 C 298668 0.069 D 197078 0.046 E 80467 0.019 F 152500 0.035 G 200349 0.046 H 325591 0.075 I 17765 0.004 J 121452 0.028 K 184007 0.043 L 183266 0.042 M 399768 0.093 N 73607 0.017 O 53166 0.012 P 199195 0.046 Q 5802 0. 001 R 224124 0.052 S 456642 0.106 T 147229 0.034 U 10559 0.002 V 52085 0.012 W 272087 0.063 X 371 0.000 Y 28468 0.007 Z 27642 0.006

Next, find the agents in the voter list. First, we will try to find intersections by last name, first name, and the first letter of the patronymic (this is all the information we have on agents). The voter dataset is very large, and with this action we will significantly reduce it so that it at least fits in the memory of my very ancient computer.

I find intersections – and then the first surprise awaits me. There are a lot of them – almost 15 thousand out of 22 thousand according to the agent file. It is unlikely that the entire FBI lives in one state, it’s just that in America there are very popular surnames, and there are too many coincidences Surname-Name-First letter of the patronymic. Well, let’s filter further.

Find surnames that occur only once. These are rare surnames, and most likely a Surname-Name match will be quite enough to identify a person. It is unlikely that we will meet another Serine Hovhannisyan. After filtering, we get a dataset of 193 unique records. There is!

With a high probability, these are our agents, with complete data – postal address, full name, date of birth, political preferences (after all, we have a list of voters, and it contains data on how this person voted from 2002 of the year). Just in case, I will not publish the result, suddenly the Agency has really long hands 🙂

It is better to calculate the statistics on this data. For example, age bar graph:

Minimum age: 21 years old (from this age you can vote)
Maximum: 90 years

Political preferences. I determined party affiliation either by declared affiliation (such information is in the dataset, or if a person constantly votes for one of the parties.
Out of 193 people 43 Republicans and 32 Democrats .
Interesting information, I thought there would be noticeably more Republicans.

How true is this data? The above reddit link in the comments has links to most state datasets. We could also collect information from social networks, and…. no thanks. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Oh, someone’s ringing at the door – one second, I’ll see who’s there. And then I’ll write about how to save

Five secrets of educating willpower from an FBI agent / Sudo Null IT News0001

As a rule, they talk about the ability or inability to learn languages, various secret methods available to special services, and similar things. But few people say that in the process of mastering almost any skills, a lot depends on willpower . So let’s just talk about that. Moreover, from the standpoint of the experience of special services. The word goes to the author of the article, a former agent with an experience of about 24 years .

To get into the FBI Academy, I had to pass a special fitness test that included 50 push-ups. I did 49when the whistle blew, announcing the end of the time allotted for this exercise. Now my group had to pass the next test – pull-ups. But I felt defeated. I already knew that push-ups failed the test, so why continue?

Frustrated with myself, I was going to just sit back while others did this exercise. But the coach told me to get up and continue the test. And not just continue, but give it your all. This meant two hours of hard work, which, as I already knew, would not bring a positive result.

And that wasn’t the last time the FBI pushed me into an obstacle course. I had to face obstacles that seemed absolutely insurmountable, at least on the first try. But it was this experience that taught me that it is the attempts to overcome existing difficulties that prepare us for future success – if not this time, then the next one, for sure.

This is called willpower. And in this article, I want to share with you five secrets that helped me personally in cultivating this very willpower.

1) Keep your target in sight at all times

In order to activate your willpower, you must constantly remind yourself why this particular cause / goal is important now. If you are busy with some work or small assignments, the result of which does not mean anything, you will not develop willpower here. That is why it is so hard to get together and do a project that you hate, that is simply not interesting. It was easier for me: I knew that I wanted to become an FBI agent, and this filled all my actions with meaning every day.

2) Do not cut corners

Somehow I had such an experience. While running at the Academy, I decided to make it easier for myself to shorten the distance by cutting corners on turns. It wasn’t too difficult to do this, as I was one of the last to run, and the treadmill made several sharp turns. Unfortunately (or fortunately?!), the coach saw it. He made me come back (which has already increased the distance) and take the turns correctly. Since then, I have firmly learned that cutting corners does not shorten the distance to the goal, but increases the time spent on reaching it.

3) Train your brain

The word “meditation” may sound strange from the mouth of an FBI agent. But for the first time, I realized the importance of being able to clear my mind of all unwanted thoughts and emotions during shooting practice. The best shooters are those who can go into a trance and fully focus on the target. Some characterize the process of the shot in this way – a meditative moment. But the same principle says: control your thoughts so that you focus correctly.

4) Practice persistence and consistency

By forcing me to complete a sports test, after I failed, the coach carved the following mantra into my mind: “I will not back down.