Senior Special Agent Brian Orsi

ICE Office of Intelligence

Following in the footsteps of his father, a former FBI Agent, Brian Orsi knew he wanted to pursue a federal law enforcement career. Starting as an Intelligence Aide for the former INS Intelligence Division, he gained invaluable experience assisting Senior Agents in both the first World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing that cemented his decision to work in federal law enforcement. In 1996, he joined the U.S. Border Patrol and was assigned to the Southwest Border in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Today, a Senior Special Agent, Brian serves as the Deputy of the Threat Analysis Unit, a joint initiative with the ICE Office of Investigations that seeks to identify potential threats to national security from the more than thirty million foreign nationals who visit the United States each year. Variety and unpredictability characterize his days as he faces that challenge. “It’s a giant haystack to sort through, and we don’t always know if it’s exactly a needle we are trying to find,” he explains. The talented analysts and agents assigned to the Threat Analysis Unit constantly review the latest intelligence and threat reports in order to develop investigative leads for ICE field offices and the various Joint Terrorism Task Forces nationwide. They are ever mindful of their primary role: to identify potential threats to the Homeland posed by foreign terrorist and extremist groups.

Upsetting the work of terrorists isn’t a new task for Brian. In the spring of 2002, he served as the Intelligence Coordinator in Mexico City for the former INS’ Operation Southern Focus, which sought to dismantle the numerous clandestine alien smuggling pipelines throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America. The fifteen groups targeted were known to provide assistance to terrorist and extremist groups in bringing their operatives to the United States. By the end of the summer, Operation Southern Focus had taken the leaders of twelve of the groups into custody and had effectively dismantled the remaining groups. In a matter of months, it was able to shut down criminal enterprises with links to terrorist and extremist groups that had been funneling thousands of illegal aliens to the United States for years. At the same time, and just as noteworthy, lasting relationships were built with counterparts in countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Mexico and Guatemala. These relationships were later instrumental in other operations, including working with counterparts in Nicaragua to successfully disrupt one of the largest child smuggling rings in U.S. history.

Given his experiences, Brian appreciates that no other agency in the federal government offers as broad a range of opportunities in law enforcement as ICE. “For someone interested in a career in law enforcement, I cannot think of a better agency to work for than ICE. The vast authorities we hold and multitude of enforcement missions we carry out are likely to create some of the most well-rounded agents, officers, and analysts within the federal government.”