The Army Wants YOU…To Be A Special Agent

The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, commonly known as CID, is looking for qualified applicants to become highly-trained criminal investigators.

Special agents within Criminal Investigation Command, commonly known as CID, are responsible for investigating numerous types of felony-level crimes, conducting protective-service operations, and working with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to solve crimes and combat terrorism.

Those accepted into the program to become agents will receive training at the U.S. Army Military Police School. They will also receive advanced training in specialized investigative disciplines. Selected agents may also receive advanced training at the FBI National Academy, the Metropolitan Police Academy at Scotland Yard, the DOD Polygraph Institute and the Canadian Police College.

Additionally, agents also have the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in Forensic Science from George Washington University.

In the Army, taking care of soldiers and their families is often at the forefront of every leader’s mind. From the fire team leader to the Army chief of staff, the health and welfare of the force is of the utmost importance.

It is an unfortunate fact that crime in the ranks can occur. When it does, commanders, soldiers, civilians and victims throughout the Army community turn to the men and women of the Army CID. The main purpose of the CID is to investigate criminal acts and to help victims in their time of need.

Special Agents from CID are very proud of that fact and are actively seeking qualified soldiers with the integrity and dedication to join them to become CID special agents, while helping to keep the Army safe.

“When something bad happens, when a commander needs to discover the truth, when a soldier or family member has been wronged, we are the folks they go to for help,” said Special Agent David Rudd, an operations officer with CID Headquarters. “We exist to keep our Army safe and protect our fellow soldiers, civilians, and family members.”

The special agents with CID are responsible for investigating felony-level crimes worldwide and especially where there is a concentration of Army personnel. The agents of CID are some of the most highly trained criminal investigators in law enforcement today.

“Many people don’t realize the impact we have on a person’s life and the impact we have on the Army,” said Special Agent Edgar Collins, the assistant operations officer for the CID Washington Battalion. “In a sense, we are defending the honor of the United States Army.”

The Army’s CID serves a population of more than one million soldiers, civilians, contractors and family members. At home and while deployed, CID provides an invaluable resource to the Army and commanders at posts, camps and stations. CID special agents not only investigate crimes, but they also conduct logistics security operations and assessments.

Agents also conduct criminal intelligence and economic crime/extremist criminal activity threat assessments.

“It’s unfortunate, but with most communities of one million plus, crime is going to happen,” said Special Agent Jennifer Bryan, the special agent-in-charge of the Pacific Fraud Field Office. “Because of that, we ensure that the Army and its interests are protected. Whether it’s a soldier, a government contractor or a family member, we are always here to help.”

On the battlefield, criminal investigations are expanded to include war crimes, as well as anti-terrorism and force protection missions. Throughout its proud history, CID has maintained an extremely high operational tempo and continues to support Army missions and operations around the world.

“Unlike some other Army units, who have a specific mission deployed and then a training mission at home; our mission never stops,” Collins said. “It’s an unfortunate truth, but we often meet people on possibly the worst day of their life.”

To serve as a CID special agent is more than just a career; it’s a way of life. The amount of responsibility placed on agents is immense, often working independently and assigned missions that may have a significant impact on not just the local command, but the Army at large.

“Being a special agent is an opportunity to be a part of something significantly larger than oneself,” said Special Agent David Eller, a special sexual assault investigator with the Fort Carson CID Office. “You are often placed in a position of great responsibility, whether it’s protecting a dignitary at a foreign summit, to working a murder case, you have to be on your ‘A’ game every day.”

Eller said the CID is looking for agents who will take ownership of investigations, but more importantly, the agency is looking for “unquestionable integrity.”

Prospective agents attend the CID Special Agent Course at the U.S. Army Military Police School, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. For 15 weeks, candidates receive advanced training in various specialized investigative disciplines and upon graduation become federal law enforcement officers.

The training is fast-paced and thought-provoking, said CID Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Seaman. The training covers everything from crime-scene processing to interviews and interrogations. It is also accredited by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Board.

“As an apprentice agent, new agents at their first duty assignment receive mentorship and field training by senior agents and are given an opportunity to apply a multitude of felony investigative techniques in real-life scenarios while learning to master their craft,” said Seaman.

Many within the federal law enforcement community, both military and civilian agencies, view the course as the best basic agent training program in the United States.

“Our program is the best there is,” said Special Agent Ronald Meyer, Chief of Physical Evidence Branch at USAMPS. “At other institutions, their prospective special agents spend maybe two days learning how to process a crime scene, our students here at Fort Leonard Wood spend about two weeks.”

During a career at CID, agents have the opportunity to attend advanced training at some of the most prestigious law enforcement programs in the world. Included among those institutions are the FBI National Academy, the Metropolitan Police Academy at Scotland Yard, the Defense Academy of Credibility Assessment, and the Canadian Police College.

A unique aspect of these programs for CID special agents is that they are offered to those who need it most, the agent in the field. Some other law enforcement agencies and major police departments often reserve this type of training for just their senior investigators or chiefs of police.

Agents also have the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in forensic science from George Washington University. Enlisted agents have tremendous opportunities to become warrant officers.

To qualify to become part of CID, applicants must be a U.S. citizen and must be at least 21-years-old. Applicants must be no more than an E-5 (non-promotable). Those E-5s who are promotable, or those who have achieved E-6 but have one year or less time-in-grade, may apply with waiver. All applicants must have at least two years, but not more than 10 years time-in-service, have an ST score of 107 or higher (110 or higher if tested prior to January 2, 2002), have at least 60 college credit hours (waiver of up to half of this prerequisite may be considered), have normal color vision and no record of mental or emotional disorders.

Applicants must be able to speak and write clearly and attain and maintain a top secret-single scope background investigation security clearance. They must also have no record of unsatisfactory credit and no felony or court-martial convictions. Lastly, applicants must be able to complete 36 months of service obligation upon completion of the CID Special Agent Course. The complete listing of qualifications can be found on the CID website.

To apply to become a CID Special Agent, prospective applicants should contact their local CID office or go to www.cid.army.mil for additional information.

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By Colby Hauser, CID Public Affairs

 From www.army.mil

FBI Breaks Ground for New TEDAC Laboratory

Today, the FBI, along with its law enforcement and military partners, participated in a groundbreaking for a new Terrorist Explosive Devices Analytical Center (TEDAC) Laboratory at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. It is a milestone in TEDAC’s development and in the combined efforts to defeat the threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

The new building will provide dedicated forensic and technical exploitation workspace for TEDAC. Currently, TEDAC shares laboratory facilities with the FBI Laboratory at Quantico. The Huntsville laboratory will provide processing and examination capabilities in various forensic disciplines. The facility also will support technical exploitation of IEDs and related devices and will facilitate the exchange of personnel among TEDAC partner agencies, further strengthening TEDAC’s interagency role and mission.

Beginning in 2003, the FBI Laboratory began receiving recovered and seized IEDs and related materials from the Department of Defense (DOD) for forensic and technical analysis in support of the ongoing war on terrorism and combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Subsequently, in December 2004, TEDAC was formally established and given the mission of forensically and technically exploiting, for evidentiary, investigative, and intelligence purposes, IEDs used by terrorists. Prior to TEDAC, no single entity in the government was responsible for this critical mission.

Over the past nine years, TEDAC has proven to be one of the nation’s most valuable tools in the war on terror. Since its creation, TEDAC has processed more than 80,000 submissions of IEDs and related forensic materials from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other foreign countries. Scientists and engineers have made dozens of forensic matches and connections between seemingly unrelated IEDs.

Interagency partners participating in TEDAC include the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); the Department of Defense (DOD) Combined Explosives Exploitation Cells (EXCs); Biometrics Task Force; Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization; National Ground Intelligence Center; the U.S. Army Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate; the Defense Intelligence Agency; the U.S. Army Asymmetric Warfare Office; the National Security Agency; the Central Intelligence Agency; and the Counter Terrorism Command, London Metropolitan Police Service.

The FBI and its partners at Restone Arsenal—alongside the FBI’s Hazardous Devices School and the ATF’s National Center for Explosives Training and Research—join to advance TEDAC’s mission by enhancing collaboration and further strengthening a government-wide approach to countering IEDs and other explosives threats.

The Child ID App for Androids

Today, to help observe National Missing Children’s Day, we’re launching a new version of our Child ID App built specifically for Android mobile phones. The application can be downloaded for free from the Android Apps section of Google Play.

The Child ID App, first released in August 2011 for iPhones, provides parents with an easy way to electronically store pictures and vital information about their children in case they go missing—whether it’s a toddler wandering away at the mall or a teen who has been snatched by a stranger.

Using the app, you can show pictures of your kids and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. You can also quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities with a few clicks. The app also includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.

To date, the iPhone version of the app has been downloaded more than 121,000 times.

Download the app at http://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/the-child-id-app-on-android?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=extras&utm_content=101055

FBI Brings CODIS Software to Costa Rica

Today, the FBI announced plans to share the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) technology with our law enforcement partners in Costa Rica. The initiative demonstrates and reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to assist international law enforcement agencies in combating violent crime.

A letter of agreement will allow the Poder Judicial Republic of Costa Rica to operate a DNA database utilizing the same platform as many of its South American, Mexican, and Caribbean counterparts.

Once CODIS is installed, the Poder Judicial Republic of Costa Rica will join more than 70 international laboratories that are using the software for the management of its DNA data. The CODIS system provided will have no connectivity to the U.S. national DNA database.

The FBI Laboratory sponsors CODIS as part of a technical assistance program to international law enforcement forensic laboratories. CODIS blends forensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving violent crimes. The software allows laboratories to store, compare, and match DNA records from offenders, crime scene evidence, unidentified human remains, and relatives of missing persons. Centralized DNA data enables law enforcement to benefit from new information in previously unrelated investigations.

In 1998, the national DNA database, known as the National DNA Index System (NDIS), was established in the United States. Currently NDIS has over 11 million searchable profiles and has aided close to 170,000 investigations.

DNA databases have proven to be invaluable to the law enforcement community and the victims of violent crimes and their families. They have been particularly helpful to investigations that are very old and no longer producing new leads. Decades ago, crimes from cold cases would have remained unsolved.

With the participation of more than 260 laboratories in over 35 countries, CODIS software has been instrumental in solving violent crimes throughout the world.

The FBI is pleased that our law enforcement partners in Costa Rica are joining the CODIS team.

Compact Planetary System

This artist's concept depicts a planetary system so compact that it's more like Jupiter and its moons than a star and its planets. Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission and ground-based telescopes recently confirmed that the system, called KOI-961, hosts the three smallest exoplanets currently known to orbit a star other than our sun. An exoplanet is a planet that resides outside of our solar system.

The star, which is located about 130 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation, is a red dwarf that is one-sixth the size of the sun, or just 70 percent bigger than Jupiter. The star is also cooler than our sun, and gives off more red light than yellow.

The smallest of the three planets, called KOI-961.03, is actually located the farthest from the star, and is pictured in the foreground. This planet is about the size of Mars, with a radius of 0.57 times that of Earth. The next planet to the upper right is KOI-961.01, which is 0.78 times the radius of Earth. The planet closest to the star is KOI-961.02, with a radius 0.73 times the Earth's.

All three planets whip around the star in less than two days, with the closest planet taking less than half a day. Their close proximity to the star also means they are scorching hot, with temperatures ranging from 350 to 836 degrees Fahrenheit (176 to 447 degrees Celsius). The star's habitable zone, or the region where liquid water could exist, is located far beyond the planets.

The ground-based observations contributing to these discoveries were made with the Palomar Observatory, near San Diego, Calif., and the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech