News Blog

Undercover Women Agents

They’ve played the part of everyone from a college student to a CEO…created and run entire fictitious companies…attended motorcycle gang weddings…even been “arrested” for the good of the cause.

In the four decades since women have served as FBI agents, they’ve taken on one of the most difficult—yet vitally important—roles in the Bureau: going undercover.

Recently, we talked with three current female agents about their undercover experiences. Despite the challenges of the job, all are passionate about their work and believe that women bring unique perspectives that enhance their effectiveness on the job. This story is part six in a continuing series.

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Two Executives Brief Congress on Threats to Nation

This morning, FBI Associate Deputy Director Kevin Perkins, speaking on behalf of Director Robert Mueller, updated members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the increasingly complex threats faced by the nation and how the FBI is continually evolving to counter those threats. Addressing topics from counterterrorism to cyber security, Perkins provided several examples of the challenges we are confronted with and the transformations the Bureau has made to ensure that we carry out our mission while protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of the people we serve.

In the same vein, this afternoon, Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division Michael Clancy focused on a more specific threat—that posed by domestic extremists. Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, Clancy discussed recent domestic terrorism events and the potential for greater volatility within domestic extremism this year as well as the FBI’s efforts to fight this problem.

For more details, read the full testimonies of both executives.

Perkins Testimony | Clancy Testimony

New Top Ten Art Crime

Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair, by Pierre Auguste Renoir

An oil painting by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir stolen from a Houston home last year—and estimated to be worth $1 million—is the newest addition to the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes list.

We need your help: Anyone with information about the stolen Renoir is encouraged to contact their local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate, or to submit a tip online at www.fbi.gov. A private insurer is offering up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of the painting.

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Teen Prostitution

It’s yet another reason why parents need to keep a close eye on their kids’ involvement with social networking websites—during a three-year period ending in March 2012, members of a violent Virginia street gang used some of these websites to recruit vulnerable high-school age girls to work in their prostitution business.

After a multi-agency state and federal investigation, all five defendants pleaded guilty to various federal charges related to the sex trafficking conspiracy. The leader of the gang—27-year-old Justin Strom—was just sentenced on September 14 to 40 years in prison, while the sentences handed down for the other four defendants totaled 53 years.

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Television Spots Honor 40th Anniversary of G-Women

The FBI today unveiled two public service announcements (PSAs) commemorating the service and contributions of female special agents over the past four decades.

The spots, which feature actresses Gillian Anderson (X-Files) and Marsha Thomason (White Collar), were first shown in San Diego at the annual convention of Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI during events honoring women agents.

The two PSAs, each 30 seconds long, are posted here in both mp4 format and in broadcast quality resolution for use by local television affiliates around the country. Radio/audio PSAs are also posted.

Both PSAs were produced pro bono. The original music accompanying Gillian Anderson’s message was provided courtesy of composer Tony DiMito.

See the Celebrating Women Special Agents series for stories, pictures, and videos

30-Year-Old Murder Solved

A cold case is just that—an investigation of a crime, usually a violent one, where all leads have been exhausted and the trail has gone cold. But in recent years, the use of various technologies has begun heating up many of these cold cases, uncovering new leads for investigators and providing justice for victims.

One immediate technology example that comes to mind is automated fingerprint searching—more precisely, searches of latent prints of violent unknown perpetrators left at crime scenes. The FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which houses known records for approximately 73 million criminal subjects, is used daily by local, state, tribal, and international law enforcement for current cases, but increasingly for help in solving cold cases as well. And once a year, the Bureau’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division recognizes an outstanding major case solved with help from IAFIS.

The 2012 Latent Hit of the Year Award was presented last month to two employees of the Omaha Police Department—Detective Douglas Herout and Senior Crime Laboratory Technician Laura Casey—for their efforts to identify the man responsible for a brutal murder more than 30 years ago.

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Need Help with Your Homework?

It’s that time of year again...backpacks are full of books, pencils are sharpened, and the smell of fall is in the air. School is back in session—and that means homework, exams, and reports are back on the table as well.

For students doing a paper on the FBI or looking for specific information about us, FBI.gov is a great resource. You can find everything from a general overview of our organization to a comprehensive history of the Bureau since its beginnings. You can explore the Vault, our electronic reading room, which contains our declassified files on everything from Al Capone to Watergate. You can find out what exactly the FBI investigates and read in-depth reports on terrorism and a variety of other topics. There is even an interactive Fun & Games section if you need to take a break from all that work. And that’s only the tip of the information iceberg.

Whatever you’re looking for that’s Bureau-related, be sure to come here first...hopefully FBI.gov can help you ace that assignment.

For more info: Resources for Researchers | Fun & Games page

Violent Trend Emerges in Infant Abductions

It is relatively rare for infants to be abducted by strangers. But it does happen. And recent analysis of abduction cases by the FBI suggests there are new and troubling trends for expectant parents to be aware of, including women kidnappers using violence to commit their crimes and social media to target their victims.

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Murder and the Dixie Mafia

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the murder of Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, Margaret, whose deaths at the hands of the so-called Dixie Mafia exposed the lawlessness and corruption that had overtaken Mississippi’s Gulf Coast in the 1980s.

“It was out of control,” said retired Special Agent Keith Bell, referring to the level of corruption in Biloxi and Harrison County—so much so that in 1983 federal authorities would designate the entire Harrison County Sheriff’s Office as a criminal enterprise.

As a result of cases stemming from the murders and other illegal activities in the area, Bell said, “Gulf Coast citizens started demanding more professional law enforcement and better government.” Bell added, “The majority of citizens realized that if the FBI had not stepped in, the lawlessness and corruption would likely have continued unabated.”

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In Their Own Words

In the 40 years since the FBI began training women to be special agents, many have said it was a dream they had held since childhood. They played cops and robbers as kids, kept their noses clean, and maybe joined the military or the local police, consciously burnishing their credentials on the road to becoming G-women.

Their stories, revealed in more than a dozen interviews with female agents past and present, show there’s no well-defined template for women agents, apart from a desire to serve. Like the first two women agents—a nun and a Marine—they arrived at the FBI with varied backgrounds and proceeded to have similarly varied careers. In video interviews, they talk about what brought them to the Bureau, the challenges they faced, their unique work experiences, and their reflections on careers that broke more than a few glass ceilings.

Read full story (Part 5 in series) | Watch video interviews