CONSIDERED A
CAREER AS AN FBI CYBER AGENT?
Here’s What It’s Like: Up Close and Personal
08/05/05
It didn’t
take long for Colleen Moss to earn her stripes. The newly minted Special
Agent had been on the job just eight days in 1997 when she arrested
her first bank robber—a man who stole $76,000. Now she’s
cracking down on cyber criminals who steal people’s identities
as well as their cash and who trade child porn on the Internet. Her
interest in the Bureau was stoked in college after hearing an agent
talk about his experiences. “It was clear to me that he loved
his job,” she says. Colleen talked to us about her own experiences
in the FBI.
Q. Can you
describe some interesting cases you’ve worked on?
Colleen: I’ve been involved in a lot of searches and arrests
of people who were producing and transmitting child pornography images online.
In several cases we were able to identify the children who were being victimized
and make sure they could get help. I’ve posed undercover as a child in
Internet chat rooms, but my current forte is investigating child porn websites
and newsgroups. I’ve also worked Internet fraud cases that have been
classified as national security matters and that were briefed at the Pentagon
and the White House.
Q. Have you
ever traveled overseas or in the U.S. on a case?
Colleen: I’ve traveled a lot for Innocent Images cases in the
U.S. and Canada. Most of my travel is to train local, state, and federal investigators
on how to do online investigations. I’ve also testified at several trials
around the country.
Q. What’s
a typical working day like?
Colleen: There is not typical day on a cyber squad. One day you may
be conducting an undercover meeting; another day you could be reviewing evidence,
interviewing suspects or victims, or working with investigators from around
the world to track down a subject or obtain evidence.
Q. What do
you like most about the job?
Colleen: I find cyber to be very rewarding and very busy!
There are always new cases to work on and new ways the “bad guys” are
committing crimes. I’ve found that there’s no such thing as the
same crime committed the same way. You always have to be thinking outside the
box when trying to tackle online crime because there are thousands of different
ways to commit the same crime.
Q. Any advice
for prospective FBI recruits?
Colleen: You must be able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances,
and not just during an arrest. The work you plan to do one day may not happen
because someone on another squad needs help. The demands of the job can change
daily; you need to be flexible and have a sense of humor or this is not the
job for you.
Apply today! Go
to fbijobs.gov.
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