While initially, it may seem unconventional to have a federal government agent give a talk to a student in an English class, it may not be when considering the issue of social media.
This semester, the theme of English 400 courses is discussing the pros and cons of a social media presence. To give more of a professional outlook on the topic, Professor Elise Green of the English and Modern Language department brought FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam Lee to her English classes and others to talk about the consequences of being active in social media. In addition, he also held recruitment info session, where he discussed his life and work within the bureau.
After spending several years as a legislative attorney in California, Lee became an FBI agent in 1996 and underwent training at Quantico (which he joked was a lot less sexier than the TV show). He worked for several years in their national cyber security program during his early stages. In addition, he also managed the public corruption and civil rights programs within the bureau during the Trayvon Martin incident, the IRS/Tea Party case and the trial of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonald. Currently, Lee works in the Richmond division where he runs all the FBI operations in Virginia, excluding the Norfolk and D.C. areas.
During his talk he explained the concept of the FBI and what they do. The bureau is essentially three agencies in one: national security, criminal investigation and intelligence. The FBI’s first priority is “to prevent the next terrorist attack in the United States.” Their second priority is to prevent other countries from spying and gaining intelligence on the U.S, followed by national cyber security, investigating the corruption of elected officials (public corruption) and the violations of civil rights.
“I liked the way he connected social media and how they used it to hire people. Everyone knows the bad it can do, but not the good. Like you can make a virtual resume by posting everything you’re involved in,” said Alex Reuschling, one of the students in the English 400 class, “Another thing I liked was the way he explained how the FBI was nothing like I expected.”
Lee emphasized that the FBI is not a law enforcement agency but often helps local law enforcement agencies with their cases, such as the Richmond branch helped with the Hannah Graham case.
When it comes to numbers, the bureau is one quarter the size of the New York Police Department, as they want to remain effectively small and not be a large Gestapo. Lee stated that one big common misconception among the public is that the FBI is “Big Brother” watching everyone.
“We are threat-focused and threat-driven and to the extent we expend one once of effort on something that is not a credible threat we are wasting our efforts. I really want folks not to think of us as some vague national security element out there they don’t understand and know that we are there to keep them safe…We are not interested in violating anybody’s privacy or civil liberties, in fact we investigate those crimes.”
In his recruitment session, Lee encouraged the students to look at all the options and benefits the bureau could give them but warned that the competition for the jobs is steep. For those who would are seeking employment with the bureau as a field agent, the requirements involve: strict drug usage restrictions, a four-year degree, 3 years of professional work experience, but can be reduced to two years, if you specialize in law, accounting, cyber security or any language, such as Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, or Arabic.
Lee suggested that should anyone have even the slightest interest in being employed by the FBI to visit fbi.gov. For those who know that they meet the requirements listed above, he suggested to call a field office and get in contact with a recruiter.
