Special agent travels to SFA to speak to students about areas of FBI

Career Services sponsored a symposium on Crime, Civil Rights and Terrorism on Tuesday afternoon, featuring three FBI agents with ties to East Texas.

Robert E. Casey, special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office, spoke mainly about the three core business areas of the FBI, which include national security, a counter intelligence program and cyber crime. SFA Board of Regents member Carlos Amaral introduced Casey after a short film on the origin of the FBI. "As some of you may know, the FBI has a hostage rescue team," Casey said. "We heard there's a hostage situation dealing with a Chief Caddo being held at Northwestern State so we may be able to help," he said with a laugh.

Casey was appointed special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office in 2006 and is in charge of 137 counties in North Texas and portions of East and West Texas. This territory covers 125,000 square miles and is home to more than nine million residents. "Everyone has perceptions about the FBI, but there are three core business areas we tend to focus on," Casey said.

The first topic Casey discussed was the issue of national security. "Our number one priority is the prevention of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and being able to understand foreign and domestic abilities," Casey said. Bridging the information gap between America and foreign countries is important but hard to accomplish. "We have thousands of employees who work in that arena every day," Casey said.

The counter intelligence program is the second priority Casey discussed, but he acknowledged it is the area the public hears least about. "Counter intelligence consists of activities conducted by the government to repel the acts of other governments working against us," Casey said. According to the agent counter intelligence is treated like a cat-and-mouse game in the spy world. The ultimate goal is recruiting a foreign spy to work for the U.S. while committing espionage against his or her own country. "It is a nasty, ugly and dangerous game played in a room of mirrors and shadows, but this must be done in order to protect our country," Casey said.

The third top priority is cyber crime and cyber intrusions, which includes scams through email and new technology sources. "We've come a long way from carrying around a gun, a badge and a notebook and pen. Now it's a gun, badge and a Blackberry," Casey said. "However, more is stolen through email scams than with a gun in this country."

At the end of the program guests were given a chance to ask questions and the main topics revolved around the biggest internal challenges the FBI is currently facing. "Our two biggest internal challenges deal with national security and white collar crime," Casey said. The internal challenge lies with the insertion of an Al-Qaeda operative in the U.S. that would have an opportunity to commit another undetected attack against the U.S. White collar crime is grabbing more attention now because of the economic conditions. "The stimulus bill that was just passed includes a large amount of money that will be dispersed in a dizzying amount of ways," Casey said. "This is a huge amount of money that needs to be doled out, and someone will commit fraud."

Before wrapping up Casey made sure the audience know how much he enjoys his job. "For me it's been a great career, but not for everyone," Casey said. "Job security, comfortable living and a fascinating career are all part of the package. Beyond all that you're going to get adventure, and you will be part of one of the most exclusive clubs in the world."

mleonard@thepinelog.com