Eyes Pried Open

by Vincent Sellers

  While background check leads were assigned to new agents because the seasoned agents viewed this as boring and tedious busywork, I personally found these missions to be an enjoyable, relaxing way to get out of the office. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to people and getting to play the role of FBI agent without the danger of going after the bad guys that I was accustomed to. I loved having a break from the pressure and stress of my normal violent crime assignments.

  Interviews conducted during an FBI background check follow a specific script that helps determine eight characteristics to form an overall representation of an individual’s character. These same questions are used regardless of the subject of the background investigation; potential FBI agents, US Attorney appointees, and convicts who are hoping to get a pardon all go through the same set of questions. I cannot disclose what the questions or characteristics are, but they cover a broad spectrum of personality traits and provide a standardized common-sense approach. Unfortunately, agents are not allowed to determine their own questions, and during an interview there could be additional areas that an agent would be interested in, but the FBI strictly follows a defined script and sticks only to allowing the prescribed set of questions. This was disappointing to me, and seemed to take away from the ability of agents to perform their job and really try to flush out problems or issues that the standard questions might not address. There is a balance between ensuring standardization and efficiency versus the quality of the product. To use a food analogy, the FBI tends to take the “McDonalds” approach, while I would have preferred to be able to customize my burger based on the individual “customers.” This tactic felt more like the process that a military branch would follow. Across numerous areas, a military influence can be seen in the FBI. For the most part this structure is good and understandable, but it is not always desirable.

  My first background check was for a man who was asking for a Presidential pardon. My specific assignment was to interview friends and coworkers of this individual in the San Diego area to get information that would allow the government to effectively determine if he had changed his ways for the better. For this assignment I teamed up with my partner, Special Agent Woodrow, and we set out to interview several people who had knowledge of the person who was seeking the pardon. This person had already served his prison sentence and had been out of prison for nearly two decades. He wanted to be able to return to a fully normal life. At least on paper, he made a strong argument to support his request. In the 1980s, this man owned a television and satellite business and was selling satellite boxes that had been modified to receive any channel (including premium channels such as HBO) without paying anything extra. That was the technology rage at the time, and even as a young and relatively young teenager in the 80s, I remember seeing numerous magazine advertisements for cable boxes and descramblers that would allow people to watch all satellite television stations for “free.” This man sold several hundred illegally modified satellite boxes through his business before he was shut down by federal authorities. He wound up serving several years in federal prison for his crime. He was a businessman and had never been a violent criminal. Clearly, he had gone along with a “sheep” mentality and assumed that since thousands of businesses were openly doing the same thing, he would not be caught or punished. This is not a far stretch from the pack mentality of speeding along at the same rate as everyone else, regardless of whether a driver is technically over the speed limit (and by the way, FBI agents, including me, speed every single day).

  After his arrest and after serving prison time, the man acknowledged that what he had done was absolutely wrong. Since being released from prison, he had gone on to be a contributing member of the community, had obtained his real estate license, and was generally successful. However, being a felon had continued to cause problems; for example, when he wanted to coach his son's soccer team, the question of whether he had been convicted of a felony was asked on the application, and he did not lie and was therefore banned from being able to coach. In general, people should treat felons with special caution. Felons tend to be repeat criminals, and they have deservedly put themselves in a position of distrust. However, this man had a spotless record prior to his offense, and had been out of jail for seventeen years without a single blip on his record. Seeing that he had gone on to marry, to have a family, to hold down steady jobs, and to provide a stable household for his children, I personally thought he seemed like an appropriate person to receive a Presidential pardon. In fact, all things considered, he seemed to have greater character than most non-felons that I have met.

  We went to interview various people who had knowledge of this man and came across a number of interesting characters throughout the process. One was a wealthy doctor who lived on top of a hill with a beautiful house in the San Diego area. Unfortunately, he was a lonely man; his wife had recently passed away. He was older, a bit eccentric, and was happy to have our company. Other friends and associates that we visited were obviously impressed with our status as FBI agents and treated us like royalty. It was fun knocking on the doors of people who were not expecting a visit from anyone, and then displaying FBI credentials and introducing ourselves. Most members of the public never meet an FBI agent (that they are aware of, anyway), and once they recover from the surprise of meeting one, they are curious and have more questions than a first grader. I always enjoyed the part of the job involving showing people that FBI agents are just regular people, and are usually nothing like the bland personality that is represented by the stereotypical agent.

  One person whom we visited as part of a background investigation insisted on sending us away with a sack full of fresh avocados. These were freshly picked from a tree in his yard. The FBI is careful not to accept favors or gifts. FBI agents are allowed to receive items up to twenty dollars of value, and are strongly encouraged not to even accept any gifts of any type of any value whatsoever. But this man insisted that he had so many avocados that they would start going bad, and I could tell that it would make a nice story for him to say he not only met some FBI agents, but he sent the agents home with avocados. So I accepted his offer, which clearly lit up his face with a huge grin, and later Jennifer and I shared our own grins while enjoying the best avocados I have ever tasted.

  Background investigations that I worked on included federal judges and other high-level government officials. Most people that contributed to the investigations were eager to share information and were proud to be participating in part of the background check process, even if they only played a small role. People that do not have anything to fear or hide generally love working with the FBI, and no doubt enjoy having a glimpse of how the most elite law enforcement agency in the world operates. Frequently these interviews are performed by semi-retired agents beyond the age of fifty-seven who still wish to be involved with the FBI on a temporary contract basis. These older agents retain their credentials and present themselves as FBI agents, and still enjoy working with the public and sharing an occasional war story about their careers. These resources are valuable not only because of their experience and judgment, but also because they free up resources within the FBI who are focused on higher priority items.

  Unfortunately, my time spent on background investigations would only be a small percentage of my work time in the FBI. However, despite the bland reputation that this duty had, it proved to be one of the most enjoyable activities I performed as an agent.

  CHAPTER 23

  Off Duty

  I thoroughly enjoyed being an FBI agent when I was not working. It was fun to go to a movie and see FBI agents on the big screen, knowing that if the person sitting next to me realized they were sitting next to an actual agent, they would likely be quite shocked. While seeing the movie Breach, I looked around the theater and counted six other FBI agents that I recognized. Little did the crowd know that they were surrounded by FBI agents while watching this movie about F
BI agents!

  Shortly after arriving in San Diego, Jennifer and I decided to eat at a local diner in the Mission Valley area. Towards the end of the meal, I realized that I did not have enough cash to pay for the meal and would need to pay with a credit card. I did not yet have my California driver’s license, and I had managed to misplace my Texas license when we moved. My only photo identification was my FBI credentials. FBI agents are not supposed to use their credentials unless it is for FBI business, but I did not have an alternative; I concluded that eating is an essential function for an FBI agent so therefore I would be justified in using my credentials. And quite frankly, as a new agent I was proud and wanted to show off the fact that I was an FBI agent.

  When I produced my credentials and showed my picture with the big blue FBI letters in the background, the waitress chuckled and said that it was a decent fake of real FBI identification. She went on to verbally compare my credentials to a fake Elvis driver’s license she had once seen. I laughed and told her that the ID was authentic, and that I had no alternative form of photo identification. She still did not believe me and became visibly flustered. In her mind, I might as well of had the Elvis driver’s license and then seriously told her that I was Elvis. I explained to her that it would be a felony for someone to masquerade as an FBI agent with credentials, and that as an FBI agent, I enforced federal law and would be the last person on earth to attempt to use a fake identification, which would be breaking the very laws that I was responsible for upholding. I also offered that she could call the San Diego FBI field office and ask to speak with my supervisor. Thank goodness, she did not take me up on this, because this probably would have resulted in a less than positive impression by my new boss. Supervisors are under intense pressure and have real problems to deal with. An agent inappropriately identifying himself as an FBI agent so he or she can complete a financial transaction at a diner does not qualify as a real problem. Fortunately, the waitress finally accepted the credit card and processed it for payment, but I do not believe she ever thought that the credentials were real. If only airport workers and others who are in a position where this type of identification should be scrutinized would take their job as seriously as this waitress, the country would probably be a much safer place.

  FBI agents who are off-duty never know when they may be needed if there are no other law enforcement officers around. That ultimately proves to be a burden for FBI agents. Agents are not just members of the public; they are expected to uphold the laws of the state where they are located, and if presented with a life-threatening situation or scenario, even if it does not violate federal law and there are no police officers present, FBI agents have a duty to act.

  On one gorgeous San Diego sunny Saturday afternoon, Jennifer and I stopped by a local strip mall in our Tierrasanta neighborhood to eat burritos for lunch. She pointed out a group of people who were clustered outside of a pizza restaurant that was located in the same strip center complex. It was apparent that there was a heated argument in progress. It is certainly not an FBI agent's duty to resolve arguments in a public place; that is up to private citizens to do on their own time. However, in this situation there was an adult male in his 30s, a younger teenager, and several other individuals who were participating in this argument. There was yelling, and the situation obviously had a high potential to escalate to physical violence. The teenager, who was dressed in a baseball uniform, seemed to be arguing with a man who appeared to be his coach. The other two individuals appeared to be the kid's parents, and the coach was yelling at the boy and his mother. The father who was standing by had a bewildered look as though he did not know what to do and wished he could be anywhere else on the planet. I had no doubt that the father was caught in a dilemma of knowing that he and his family should walk away from the argument, but that he also should be expected to stand by his family, even if the confrontation turned from verbal to physical.

  I happened to be wearing flip-flop sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt with a gigantic Piggly Wiggly grocery store mascot on the front. Luckily, I also had my credentials and badge with me, although I did not have my weapon or handcuffs. Armed with only my experience and badge, I simply walked right up to this angry crowd, announced my position as a law enforcement officer with the FBI, and explained that if things escalated, there quickly could be assault charges filed for all involved parties. I encouraged the participants of the argument to step back, think about what they were doing, and see that it was a nice day on which they should just walk away from this situation. I physically inserted myself between the coach and the high school kid, and they did back down, although they were still red in the face and had their chests puffed out like two angry roosters, not wanting to appear to be relenting to the other party. The father was extremely appreciative and repeatedly said, “Thank you, sir,” and I could tell that he was relieved that the dispute had been resolved safely and that nobody was going to be injured or in trouble with the law. His wife still had a vicious look on her face, but all parties knew that I was serious, based on the authority in my actions and voice. While inserting me into the situation may not have been the safest move on my part, I did feel, based on my judgment, that it was the right thing to do. Although I did not have a weapon, at a glance I could safely assume that these people were not armed drug dealers and would probably respond predictably to an authority figure with the power to arrest them and get them into a mountain of legal trouble. After the parties dispersed, Jennifer and I returned to our original mission of eating lunch. As I sat down to eat my burrito, I felt a sense of pride knowing that I had taken the correct course of action.

  On another occasion, Jennifer and I were enjoying the fresh ocean air on a pier at Ocean Beach. California beaches are legally designated as non-smoking areas, in addition to surrounding piers and walkways. Sure enough, we encountered a group of teens who looked like possible gang members smoking on the pier. Smoking is the reason my father died before the age of sixty. While I think people have the right to smoke in their own homes, people who do not smoke have the right not to be impacted by smokers. I nicely asked the teens to stop smoking and pointed out that it is illegal for them to do so. They gave me a dirty look and continued smoking. I then pulled out my badge and credentials. Without explaining that I was an FBI agent, but with an obvious display that I was in law enforcement, I ordered them to immediately put out their cigarettes because they were violating the law. They still did not look happy, but they did comply with my order. If they had continued to smoke, realistically, I would not have tried to do anything because I would have been outnumbered and would have escalated the situation unnecessarily. But in this case my display of authority worked, and it felt good to have that power to right a minor wrong. At that moment, my status as an FBI agent was a blessing that I was thankful for.

  Another area of responsibility that just a few years prior I could not have imagined was flying armed in a post 9/11 world. At the FBI Academy, as part of the firearms instruction, new agent trainees learn basic tactics to use on an airplane if confronted with a violent situation, such as the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. There are few responsibilities that are greater than flying armed and being directly responsible for addressing threats while on an airplane with hundreds of other passengers. On several occasions, on flights for both work and pleasure, I flew as an armed FBI agent and was effectively a sky marshal on those flights. On most flights I was the only person flying armed, so I knew that if things went awry, I would be the only person on the plane with responsibility to do what was necessary to neutralize a threat. A worst case situation could mean having to bring down a plane so that a crowded stadium or other target could be spared, much like what the people on board the flight in Pennsylvania did on United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. It is difficult to relax and enjoy a flight with the knowledge that in any given second, terrorists could run up and down the aisles, slashing the throats of people whom t
hey deem as barriers to their taking over the plane. But this is what happened on 9/11, and therefore there is a real possibility that it could happen again.

  On some flights I was ushered into the plane early and greeted by the captain. In those cases I showed my credentials and introduced myself, and allowed the captain to decide if he or she was comfortable with the fact that I would be flying armed. Pilots are the captains of their ships and have the right not to allow agents to fly armed on their airplanes. In that case, an armed FBI agent would have to take a different flight. That experience never happened to me, and most pilots were friendly and seemed grateful to have the extra protection on the airplane. There were some flights that had other armed personnel, and we all knew each other’s locations on the plane in case of emergency. Fortunately nothing threatening ever did happen on those flights, but I will never forget the feeling of having a gun on the plane, eyeing people that looked suspicious, and continually formulating my strategy to take action if something bad occurred. While life outside of work for an FBI agent is enjoyable, there really is no such thing as true “free time” for an FBI agent; FBI agents must be ready to act twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week.