Pursuing the Career of a FBI Agent Imagine having to leave your hometown, friends, and family for a career. You are never allowed to return back to everything you’ve ever known and have to keep your occupation a complete secret. What career could be this demanding? The Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known as the FBI. To become a member of the most prestigious law enforcement agency in the world is not an easy process. People who are looking into the FBI as a career need to know all of the preliminary requirements, understand the physical requirements, and be knowledgeable about the five different divisions of the FBI. Before the extensive testing and training even begin, candidates must first meet the preliminary standard requirements. This list contains prerequisites such as the applicant must be a U.S. citizen who has lived in the U.S. or U.S. territories for three of the last five years. They must also be between the ages of 23 and 36 ½ years old. Candidates must possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Desirable majors for the FBI are accounting, finance, foreign languages, and computer forensics. Applicants must also have at least three years of full-time work experience in their intended field. Some examples of these could be background as a police officer, accountant, or military personnel. Along with the list of must haves, there’s also a list of must not haves.
…show more content…
This list contains items such as candidates must not have been convicted of a felony or been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor or more serious offense. Likewise, they can’t knowingly or willfully engage in acts or activities designed to overthrow the U.S. government by force. Candidates mustn 't fail to pay court ordered child support. In addition, they cannot fail to meet the FBI’s drug use guidelines. Defaulting on a federally funded student loan, or failure to file federal, state, or local income tax returns are in conjunction with the list of don’t haves. If an applicant fails to meet any of these requirements, their application is terminated and they are no longer eligible to apply to be a FBI agent. After passing the preliminary standard requirements, candidates move on to the physical requirements and training. FBI agents never know what situations they may be up against, so they must be prepared for anything. The physical requirements that are needed to pass include a minimum of one official, field-administered physical fitness test (PFT), a vision test, a hearing test, and a medical health review. The PFT consists of four mandatory events that are to be administered in the following order with only five minutes of rest in between each event. The test has a strict scoring scale and protocol. Within the PFT, candidates must perform their maximum number of sit-ups in one minute, complete a timed 300-meter sprint and timed one and a half mile run, and achieve their maximum number of continuous push-ups which is untimed In order to pass the PFT, applicants must have a minimum of 12 points, with at least one point in each of the four events. …show more content…
Points are awarded on a chart from zero to seven and vary between age and gender. All candidates are offered three opportunities to pass the PFT. If they fail the third time, their application will be terminated and they are not allowed to apply for the position of a FBI agent ever again. Upon passing the PFT, candidates move on to new agent training. The potential agents are brought to the “baddest town” in America, Hogan’s Alley. This town is owned by the FBI and equipped with specially trained actors to create real life situations. The objective of bringing the agents to Hogan’s Alley is to put them face-to-face with realistic, stressful, and life-threatening scenarios. Within the FBI, there are five distinct divisions. These divisions include counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigations, cyber, and intelligence. The main objective of counterintelligence is to safeguard the intelligence programs of the FBI, U.S. government, and members of the intelligence community. The agents in this field are responsible for identifying and neutralizing ongoing national security threats. These agents work closely with the U.S. Intelligence Community and focus on countries, foreign powers, and entities that present the most important threats to the United States. Within the division of counterterrorism, the top priority
This list contains items such as candidates must not have been convicted of a felony or been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor or more serious offense. Likewise, they can’t knowingly or willfully engage in acts or activities designed to overthrow the U.S. government by force. Candidates mustn 't fail to pay court ordered child support. In addition, they cannot fail to meet the FBI’s drug use guidelines. Defaulting on a federally funded student loan, or failure to file federal, state, or local income tax returns are in conjunction with the list of don’t haves. If an applicant fails to meet any of these requirements, their application is terminated and they are no longer eligible to apply to be a FBI agent. After passing the preliminary standard requirements, candidates move on to the physical requirements and training. FBI agents never know what situations they may be up against, so they must be prepared for anything. The physical requirements that are needed to pass include a minimum of one official, field-administered physical fitness test (PFT), a vision test, a hearing test, and a medical health review. The PFT consists of four mandatory events that are to be administered in the following order with only five minutes of rest in between each event. The test has a strict scoring scale and protocol. Within the PFT, candidates must perform their maximum number of sit-ups in one minute, complete a timed 300-meter sprint and timed one and a half mile run, and achieve their maximum number of continuous push-ups which is untimed In order to pass the PFT, applicants must have a minimum of 12 points, with at least one point in each of the four events. …show more content…
Points are awarded on a chart from zero to seven and vary between age and gender. All candidates are offered three opportunities to pass the PFT. If they fail the third time, their application will be terminated and they are not allowed to apply for the position of a FBI agent ever again. Upon passing the PFT, candidates move on to new agent training. The potential agents are brought to the “baddest town” in America, Hogan’s Alley. This town is owned by the FBI and equipped with specially trained actors to create real life situations. The objective of bringing the agents to Hogan’s Alley is to put them face-to-face with realistic, stressful, and life-threatening scenarios. Within the FBI, there are five distinct divisions. These divisions include counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigations, cyber, and intelligence. The main objective of counterintelligence is to safeguard the intelligence programs of the FBI, U.S. government, and members of the intelligence community. The agents in this field are responsible for identifying and neutralizing ongoing national security threats. These agents work closely with the U.S. Intelligence Community and focus on countries, foreign powers, and entities that present the most important threats to the United States. Within the division of counterterrorism, the top priority