Reflections About a 28-Year FBI Career on the 30th Anniversary of Becoming an FBI Agent

NOTE:?I originally wrote this for my daughters on what would have been my 30th FBI anniversary.??

Today marks the 30th anniversary of my entry on duty to the FBI.?My interest in the FBI began in college where I had a friend whose father was a White Collar Crime Agent in the Louisville, Kentucky field office.?Additionally, my father was a policeman who told me, “If you are interested in law enforcement, you don’t want to be a policeman.?Join the FBI; those guys are going places.”?I initially applied immediately after completing a Master in Business Administration program.?I passed the aptitude and personality test, oral interview, background investigation and everything else.?However, much to my surprise I received a letter stating that I would not be hired.?I wrote the Bureau for additional information and was told I did not have enough life experience.?Thereafter, I got married and began a much better position at a division of Ford Motor Company.?I waited about a year and a half and inquired about reapplying.?Because I had passed everything previously, I only had to update my application.?The Bureau renewed my background investigation and again reviewed my entire package.?I received a conditional hire letter promising a salary of $26,261 while at the FBI Academy and the opportunity to earn an additional $6,565 once I graduated and started in my first field office.??

On May 20, 1989, I left a seven-month pregnant and crying wife at the door as I left for the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.?Normally the drive from Louisville to Washington, D.C. is a 10-hour drive, but because I left late in the afternoon, when I got to the Charlottesville, Virginia area around 1 am I was really struggling.?I stopped at several hotels only to learn they were sold out because it was graduation weekend for the University of Virginia.?On the far side of Charlottesville, I thankfully found a hotel.?

The drive from Charlottesville to the FBI Academy the next day was uneventful.?I arrived in the area shortly after lunch and well in advance of the 5 pm mandatory check-in.?Not wanting to get there so early, I ate lunch in Aquia and got to the Academy between 2 and 3 pm.?I was greeted by staff personnel who helped check me in and someone from the most recent new agent’s class helped carry my bags to my room and explained things I needed to do, i.e. buy my uniforms, get bedding, etc.?After I was secured, I helped my arriving classmates with their bags and shared what I knew about the night.?Our class ate dinner and then mustered in a classroom where Staff Counselor Edmundo Mireles greeted us.?Ed told us the job was not for everyone.?He explained we would be expected to carry a weapon and use it in defense of ourselves and others.?He said if you did not think you could do that, there was no shame and you could leave.?No one left that night, but our class did have someone quit three days later.?We completed a lot of paperwork during the meeting and got our photos taken. (Note: In the annals of FBI history, Ed Mireles is a true legend and hero related to a 1986 shootout in which two bank robbers killed two FBI agents and wounded several others, including Ed.?He killed the bank robbers as they were trying to escape in an FBI vehicle.)

To succeed at the FBI Academy, it was important to befriend classmates to study with and share the good days and bad days to successfully get through everything. In some ways the FBI Academy was as much mental as academic and physical. I got along well with all my classmates and was one of a handful of people in my class who had a car at the Academy. I clicked best with Anthony “Tony” Arismendi who sat next to me in class. Tony was a graduate of Brigham Young University and had previously worked as a manager at a Dillard’s store in Las Vegas. He had an interesting life story, coming to America from Venezuela as a teenager unable to speak English and a descendant of Simon Bolivar’s top general. Tony and I studied together, worked out together and socialized on weekends. Many years later he would give sound advice on one of my undercover cases. We remain friends to this day.

Fourteen weeks of academic, firearms and physical training were grueling but not impossible.?I was always thankful I was there during the summer and not winter inasmuch as I never really liked the cold even though I grew up with it.?The academics at the Academy were not extremely rigorous, but I think that is because I studied hard.?Passing score for the exams was 85 percent.?My greatest challenge was physical fitness.?While I liked sports, I was never an athlete.?I easily passed the first physical fitness test and had no trouble with the other two; however, my scores did not increase much while I was at the Academy.?

Staff Counselor Ed Mireles did not always treat us very well.?I think it was just Ed in that position because I got to know him better after I graduated from the Academy and really liked him.?At the Academy, we had a midnight curfew during the week, and it was several weeks before we could stay out for the weekend.?After a while my roommate met an attractive lady from the area.?He liked to make us jealous by sharing bikini photos of his friend.?I was called to Ed Mireles’ office one afternoon where Ed gave me a lecture about lack of candor and how that was the quickest way to be removed and fired from the FBI.?He then told me he knew my roommate was staying out all night and not returning before curfew.?He said I was out with him.?I quickly responded I did not go out with my roommate and otherwise was always back by curfew.?Ed then laughed and said he was just joking about me but wanted me to tell him what my roommate was doing.?He said he knew that I could tell him what he wanted to know.?For a second my brief FBI career proverbially flashed before my eyes as I thought how to respond.?I told Ed I generally went to bed around 10 pm and did not know where my roommate was.?I explained he was friends with classmates down the hall and for all I knew he was hanging out with them.?I added that I didn’t ask him where he was.?Ed looked at me angrily and said, “Get out of here.”??

Quantico was great at providing the basics on which us New Agent Trainees would build our careers.?About eight weeks into the Academy, we received our first office assignments.?We had previously been asked to rank our top five offices.?My most preferred office was Dallas, Texas and San Antonio was in the top five as well.?On the night we received our first office assignment, each person would stand in the front of the room facing their classmates and say where they wanted to go and where they thought they were going.?Thereafter, they would open their envelope and announce their first office and place a pin in the location on a United States map on an adjacent chalkboard.?When it was my turn, I said I wanted to go to Dallas but had no idea where I might be going.?I opened my envelope to see San Antonio Field Office, Austin Resident Agency.?My first thought was that I had been through Austin with my family on our annual vacation to California, and I tried to remember what it looked like.?Little did I know what a desirable location Austin would be. I?would have people tell me they would kill to get to Austin!?The remaining time at the Academy was without note, and I graduated on August 25, 1989.?

My family and I arrived in Austin during Labor Day weekend, and my initial reaction was that I had never been in a place so hot.?I reported for duty on September 5, 1989 and met my new supervisor, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent (SSRA) Byron Sage.?After telling him my background, SSRA Sage gave me an overview of the office, priorities, and personnel.?He told me he was working on an informant report which was due on Friday and always had 100 percent agent participation in the Informant Program.?From behind his desk, SSRA Sage looked at me across the top of his glasses, and I easily understood his message.?By close of business Thursday, I had an informant, and SSRA Sage could report all Austin agents operated an informant.?Operating informants is a very important part of an FBI agent’s work because they are great sources of information and initiate / enhance investigations.?During my career, I performed well operating informants in part because effectively interacting with people came easy for me.?While in Austin, I received a monetary incentive award for my participation in the Informant Program because of the number and quality of informants I operated.?

My first year in Austin was spent primarily working background investigations. SSRA Byron Sage’s unofficial policy was the new agent worked all the background investigations until the next new agent arrived.?During my year plus, I conducted more than 300 background investigations.?Inasmuch as Austin was the state capital and The University of Texas was there, the volume and pace of the backgrounds were high.?They often had short deadlines which required me to conduct the investigations during work hours and dictate the results in the evening at home.?A stenographer in San Antonio typed my interviews.?I interviewed many interesting people while working backgrounds, including Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Bobby Ray Inman (Retired Admiral and former head of NSA), Governor Ann Richards and many others.?Early on I also worked a few small dollar bank fraud and investment fraud investigations.?These were typically bank teller theft cases in the amount of $10,000 - $50,000.?After about 15 months, a new agent arrived, and my focus shifted to primarily working multi-million-dollar white collar crime cases.?

I recall very well the first arrest I went on was a lead out of the Sacramento Field Office to arrest Ronald Beavers on an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP) warrant for Lewd and Lascivious Conduct with a Minor.?Beavers was residing in a trailer in a semi-rural area outside of Austin.?Being a new agent, I was not assigned to go in the front door and instead to a perimeter position.?As we approached the trailer, a tall thin man was observed working in the yard.?That was our guy.??My opinion was Beavers looked more like a transient than anything.??

Not long after completing my applicant assignment, I was given a check kiting case to work jointly with a Texas Ranger and Investigator from the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association.?The Texas Ranger stood about 6’8” tall and had the deepest voice.?Five people, including the main subject who owned a cattle company in rural Texas, eventually pled guilty to the bank fraud and related crimes.?What makes the case memorable is one of the subjects weighed more than 600 pounds.?I knew he would not fit in my car, so I subpoenaed him to the courthouse to give handwriting samples after which I arrested him.?I had to use leg shackles for his handcuffs.?Additionally, I have the distinction of probably being one of the few FBI agents to ever convict someone for cattle rustling.?A defendant in the case pled guilty to Interstate Transportation of Stolen Livestock.?

One of my favorite early cases was a leasing fraud scheme wherein the owner of a copier company submitted applications for non-existent leases and the proceeds were given to the applicants as if they were loan proceeds.?The case netted four indictments and convictions on the main case and two convictions in a spin-off case.?Criminal charges included wire fraud and conspiracy.?The prosecutor on the case was a young red headed AUSA named Gregg Lehman who was a very likable and skilled attorney.?His supervisor at the US Attorney’s Office did not like him much, and as a result did not really understand the case.?I think the supervisor in part did not care for Lehmann's cheap toy collection he displayed in his office. On several occasions I tried to explain the case to the supervising attorney, but he was not interested in the details because of his disdain for Lehmann.?Sentences on the case ranged from probation to 10 months incarceration.??

On Friday, February 26, 1993, I had a meeting at the United States Attorney’s Office in Waco related to a now unrecalled case being prosecuted there.?The prosecutor with whom I was meeting, John Phinizy, mentioned something about working the weekend on a big ATF raid.?At the time it did not mean anything, but on late Sunday morning it would become obvious he was talking about the Branch Davidian raid in which four ATF agents were killed.?On the Monday or Tuesday after the raid nearly all agents from the Austin FBI office were sent to Waco to support the investigation.?At the time I was the Acting White Collar Crime supervisor because my boss was out of town.?When he returned, I also was deployed to Waco where I was assigned as a liaison to the Texas Rangers.?I pretty much attended a daily meeting with the Rangers and other agencies and reported the results back to on-site FBI executives; the remainder of my 12 hour shift I worked in the command post.?In total I was in Waco for about five long weeks.?I spent enough time in Waco that I do not have a desire to go back.?There were times I wanted to drive out to the forward operating base and see the Branch Davidian compound in the distance, but thought it was not worth the hassle to drive out.?I thought I would wait until the siege was over and drive by to see it; but as everyone knows, the Branch Davidians set fire to their compound on April 14th, and it burned to the ground killing many of the members.?The FBI has been criticized much for its actions on the last day.?While I feel bad so many people died in the conflagration, I do not disagree with the FBI actions trying to end the siege with CS gas (tear gas).?Negotiations were going nowhere, and a tactical option was the only choice whether it was day 51 or 151.?Branch Davidian leader David Koresh was never going to leave the compound.??

One of the early big cases I worked in Austin was a $2.5 million ponzi scheme perpetrated by German national Georg Dudov.?The case was initiated by an informant who worked for Dudov.?Dudov asked the informant to kill his business rival and solicited his help in securing a United States passport.?Early on we worked the murder for hire, but that portion of the case went awry after the informant introduced the hit man (an undercover Texas Department of Public Safety officer) to Dudov.?At the meeting, he told the “hit man” he was willing to pay $5,000 up front and $5,000 when the job was completed. Dudov asked the “hit man” to leave the room and told the informant he did not want to meet the guy.?Thereafter he decided not to pursue the killing but paid the “hit man” $2,000 for meeting with him. Dudov was selling phony investments in oil wells to people in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.?He brought over salesmen who made the cold calls to the potential investors.?Some investors came to the US to see their oil wells.?Dudov picked them up in a limo and drove to East Texas and Louisiana where he would point to existing wells and identify them as his.?Dudov never owned any wells.?Contemporaneous with the ponzi scheme portion of the investigation, I also worked to get Dudov his United States passport.?With the assistance of the State Department Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), we introduced an undercover DSS agent who represented he was a corrupt state department employee who would get Dudov his passport.?Dudov agreed to pay the undercover agent $30,000 and give the title to his 500 series Mercedes and his girlfriend’s 200 series Mercedes.?He was arrested at the meeting’s conclusion.?Dudov pled guilty to Money Laundering and False Statements in Application For a Passport and was sentenced to 10-years incarceration.

I would also partner up with my friend and colleague Paul Kubala and investigate some of the best cases of my career.?We initiated a large Title III wiretap targeting Austin’s largest bookmaker and surreptitiously recorded two hard lines, four mobile phones and two facsimile machines.?I was the first person in the Austin Office to do a wiretap on a facsimile machine.?Over 40 days, we intercepted and recorded more than 3,000 phone calls.?We convicted three bookmakers and two associates.?

The case about which I am most proud is undercover case “First Lite.”?The case started out as a stolen check case investigating a large group of Nigerians engaged in fraud.?We had a cooperating witness (CW) involved with the group.?He was given stolen checks to cash.?Working with Bank of America, we obtained fictitious deposit slips and used FBI funds to pay for the checks.?Everything was going great when without warning the main subject asked the CW if he knew anyone who did heroin, meaning dealt heroin.?We introduced an undercover Austin Police Officer as the dealer.?I outfitted the undercover well securing him a diamond encrusted Rolex and fancy green, almost gaudy, Jaguar with gold trim.?He looked more like a pimp than drug dealer.?We continued buying stolen checks and started purchasing white heroin that was more than 80 percent pure.?The main subject attempted to short us on the weight of our first heroin purchase and hence the undercover operation’s name, First Lite.?Hoping to move up in the drug organization, the undercover officer invited the main subject to Los Angeles to meet the undercover’s “drug boss.”?We used a law enforcement friendly yacht that was wired to record meetings and ensured there were many trays of lobster tail and shrimp. Paul and I met with the Los Angeles based undercover agent aboard the yacht to get the details about the meeting after our subject had departed.?I ate so much lobster and shrimp.?I remember standing on the yacht's deck as we motored around Newport Beach harbor thinking I would never eat that much lobster ever again. It was a great trip, but unfortunately the main subject would not let us meet his boss.?When Paul and I took the case down, we indicted 10 people, and indictments continued after Paul and I both transferred from Austin.?The main subject went to trial even though we had him on audio and video selling us heroin and him counting the money.?The jury deliberated less than two hours and found him guilty on all counts.?He was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.?

I have always endeavored to live my life with humbleness. ?While in Austin that trait would be reinforced the hard way. ?Several of us younger agents decided to form a flag football team and play in a league I think was held at Zilker Park. ?There were two divisions, an upper and lower league.? We discussed where we should play and decided since we were FBI agents in great athletic shape, we should play in the upper league. ?I knew we were in trouble when during our opening game, the opposing team, who won the coin toss and got the ball first, called an audible at the line of scrimmage on their initial play. ?They scored on that play, and I think every other time they had the ball in the first half. ?We were down like 35-0 or 42-0 at half-time. ?The other more experienced and superior team took it easy on us the second half and did not score. ?Neither did we though. ?It was a shutout. ?We did not win a single game that season. ?I do not recall if our team played another season; if they did, I did not return. ?I have never forgotten that season and tell the story to make a point about the importance of being humble and remembering who you are. ?Do not try to be someone you are not.?

As much as I loved my time in Austin and made a lot of great cases I felt I had accomplished as much there as I could.?I worked on background investigations that sharpened my interview skills; investigated complex multi-million-dollar cases; and did a large wiretap and undercover case.?I developed sound investigative experience that was relevant to any FBI investigation, regardless of the program.?There came a point when I was looking for more, and I began applying for supervisory positions at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.?In January 1998, I was promoted to the Economic Crimes Unit where I was a Supervisory Special Agent / Program Manager for investment fraud, ponzi schemes, stock pump and dump fraud, and other programs.?My immediate boss was a great man named John Kingston.?He is one of the smartest people I have ever known.?His knowledge was vast.?John knew every document he had and where it was.?A few months after arriving at FBI Headquarters, John started a Money Laundering Unit, and I transferred with him.?Shortly thereafter, John was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge in San Diego, and I became the Acting Unit Chief for the Money Laundering Unit.?In the unit, I was the program manager for some really great undercover money laundering investigations.?Additionally, I had the opportunity to do a lot of training.?I organized two Money Laundering In-Service training sessions at the FBI Academy in Quantico attended by in excess of 35 agents each time.?I also traveled to conferences in Tokyo, Japan and Wellington, New Zealand.?I worked on a project with the United Kingdom’s MI-6 (James Bond’s organization).?It was so cool to travel to the MI-6 headquarters building at Vauxhall Crossing in London and meet with senior MI-6 officials.?I can always say I have been to James Bond’s headquarters.?Unfortunately, I did not meet “Q” or view any secret gadgets, but I learned a lot about MI-6 and enhanced our liaison with the agency. I also saw a lot of London in the few days I was there, including the Abbey Road crosswalk made famous by the Beatles.?

On Super Bowl Sunday in January 2000, I arrived in Houston to become the supervisor of a very active economic crimes squad.?My family stayed in Virginia to finish school and moved down in June.?Houston has always had an exceptional amount of quality work.?Over the course of the next nearly two years, under my supervision the squad would continue to be one of the best and most productive in the office.?

It was on the fateful day of December 4, 2001, that as Supervisory Special Agent I would type the opening communication and initiate the Enron investigation, a case that would forever define my career and the business world.?I am not going to write here about the Enron case because I have written several related articles on LinkedIn.?Additionally, over the next year I hope to write a book about the Enron investigation.?I will say I opened the Enron case before there was ever an Enron Task Force and personally created the administrative foundation on which the case was built.?I created the case sub-files, led efforts to locate offsite workspace, fill the space with furniture, get everyone moved in, etc.?The Enron case was very successful, convicting 23 people and forfeiting more than $105 million to the victims of the fraud. I was very honored to meet Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in September 2006 when I received the highest award given by the Department of Justice, the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service.

The demands and success of the Enron case, along with my previous undercover and wiretap cases, would be crucial for my next promotion.?At the time, to be evaluated for promotion to Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC), candidates were required to write two examples for each of seven competencies on which they would be rated by a promotion panel.?After the panel’s review of the package and rating each submitted competency, candidates were interviewed and given a score for communication, the eighth competency.?Based on their total score, candidates were ranked on a list and grouped into bands.?Enron certainly was important, but I knew it would not be wise to use only Enron examples.?One wants to demonstrate himself as well rounded, so I provided examples from all of my previous assignments and identified several former supervisors to verify the examples.?Some agents spend weeks writing their ASAC packages, and I have even known people who took annual leave to concentrate on them.?After much thought and mental organization, I wrote my ASAC write-ups over two weeks in the evening at home after work.?While I had offers from friends and my supervisor to read them before submission, I decided to go with what I wrote.?I was confident of my abilities and had a good understanding of the system.?Additionally, I did not want anyone else claiming credit for my success after the fact and say they were responsible for my promotion because they gave me feedback.?I had seen that happen before.?In other words, I was going to “sink or swim on my own.”?It was a gamble, but one that paid off.?When I received the envelope with my ranking, I nervously opened it and learned I was ranked number two on the ASAC list.?That did not guarantee me a promotion, but it certainly made me very competitive for anything for which I applied.?

For personal reasons, I needed to stay in Houston.?Shortly after the list came out, there were two ASAC openings in Houston, the Intelligence Branch and the Criminal Branch.?I knew I had no chance for the Intelligence Branch because the program manager was applying for the position.?At the time, he was highly respected, and I felt the position was primarily created for him.?As a side note, several years later after two failing inspections (program audits by FBI Headquarters) in a row, he would retire after being given the options to step down from his position, transfer to FBI Headquarters or retire.?The Inspectors also found he showed favoritism to his wife who was FBI Houston’s Special Agent media coordinator/spokesperson.??I thought I had a good chance for the Criminal ASAC position.?At the time, I was the Acting Criminal ASAC and had 18 months acting-ASAC experience.?I applied for both positions.?One day the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) called me in.?(Note: The SAC is the equivalent of the CEO for a field office.)?We discussed operational matters, and then he told me he did not select me for the Criminal ASAC position because there was another candidate with international experience who was more well-rounded.?I thanked him for telling me up front.?I certainly was very disappointed but went back to work the next day as if nothing had changed.??When the new guy arrived, I fully supported him and never gave any hint I had applied for the position.?A few months later, there was an opening for the Counterterrorism (CT) ASAC.?I was a proud Criminal Program agent and had never worked CT in my career.?I used to jokingly say I was a crusty Criminal guy and could not even spell CT.?In spite of my lack of experience and several very CT experienced agents having applied, I was selected for the ASAC position.?Immediately on receiving the promotion, the SAC swapped me with the Criminal Program ASAC who previously got the job over me.?So in the end, I got the position I wanted and deserved based on my experience.?Had I not graciously accepted the SAC’s decision not to select me the first time, reacted negatively, or let it affect my performance before the new ASAC arrived, I would not have been selected the second time.?Patience and understanding are truly important virtues.?

As the Criminal Program ASAC, I was the executive manager responsible for setting the strategic plan, program plans, initiatives, personnel, goals / objectives and being the public face of the program.?Andrew Bland was the SAC who selected me for the ASAC position.?He was the personification of poise and leadership and was a true gentleman.?Unfortunately, he retired about 15 months later.?His replacement was someone I had known previously because the man had been a supervisor and ASAC in the Houston office.?However, when he returned to Houston, he was not the same person.?He was a neurotic, bitter and angry person.?The SAC was a man who yelled and pointed his finger at people in the process.?He made some poor decisions that would come back to adversely impact him.?For example, FBI Headquarters was looking to establish hybrid gang / drug squads for Southwest Border offices.?In spite of my recommendation and Headquarters’ offer, he turned down the opportunity.?Every good leader in the FBI knows you never turn down resources.?Additionally, he wanted to shut down the only drug squad we had saying DEA was principally responsible for drug investigations.?Again, I respectfully disagreed with him.?On one occasion, the SAC and I were talking about the FBI's Intelligence Program, and I told him I understood where we were going but did not agree with everything we were doing. You would have thought I called his mother a pejorative name!

Over the next two months, he did everything he could to make my life miserable, and it seemed like I got yelled at almost every day.?He subsequently moved me to Administrative ASAC.?When the SAC told me he was moving me, I looked at him and said, “I have never failed at anything and do not plan on starting now!”?It was also rather petty when the SAC made me and two other ASACs physically move offices.?We had to remove everything off our walls and start over in different offices less than 50 feet from where we previously were.?The office moves were senseless and solely punitive.?I shined brightly as the Administrative ASAC because Admin had always been one of my strong traits.?That same SAC consistently told me how much he liked me as Administrative ASAC, but I never forgot how he treated me over those two months.?Admin turned out to be a great assignment inasmuch as I was also responsible for the SWAT Team, Evidence Response Team, Bomb Techs, Media / Public Relations and Special Events among other collateral assignments. Heading up Special Events, I was involved in security planning and attended the 2011 NCAA Final Four, 2013 NBA All-Star game, Houston Texans NFL games and Houston Rockets NBA playoff games.

A few months after my reassignment to Admin, FBI Headquarters sent a team down to do an onsite review of the drug program.?I did not as they say “throw him under the bus” but the visiting agents knew what had happened.?I was interviewed even though I was no longer the Criminal Program ASAC.?During my interview, the visiting agents thanked me for all I had done for the program.?I never saw the report but heard it was very critical of the SAC and his management.?The office was subsequently inspected (audited) by personnel from FBI Headquarters and several programs, including a couple of Criminal Sub-programs and the Intelligence Program, were rated as underperforming.?It was the end of that SAC.?After the inspection, I would enter his office to speak with him, and he would be sitting there staring blankly out the window. I knew he was being forced out as often happens after bad inspections, and he soon retired.?In my 28-year FBI career, this was the only supervisor who ever treated me badly.?In spite of the way I was treated, I still received a good performance appraisal from him.?Never let someone's opinion of you destroy yourself worth. I know I did not, and in the end, I was vindicated.

The other five or so SACs with whom I worked closely all possessed their own strengths and for the most part were good to work with. I ended my career working for one of the finest bosses ever, SAC Perrye Turner.?When he arrived in Houston, he set about correcting mistakes of the previous SAC.?He moved personnel around and held people accountable.?He reassigned and removed stale people who had been in their specialty positions too long.?SAC Turner had a real vision for the office and gave it his imprimatur. He changed the way things were done internally.?Most importantly for me, he divided the Criminal Program because it had become too large to effectively manage and reassigned me as White Collar Crime Program ASAC.?I was back in my area of expertise.?I hired some very experienced supervisors, and the program flourished.?When I was initially reassigned, all White Collar Crime Sub-Programs were rated as Accomplishing the Mission.?At the time of my retirement, three of the four highest ranked (most important) sub-Programs were rated by FBI Headquarters as High Performing.?Additionally, I am very proud that I doubled the number of White Collar Crime Program supervisors.?While some may think this is not significant, resources are a zero-sum game.?What I received was taken from someone else, and no one gives up resources without a fight.?The White Collar Crime Branch under my supervision went on to work some significant economic crime cases and major undercover operations involving Public Corruption, Money Laundering and Health Care Fraud.?

Before I retired, I had the opportunity to participate in one of the most memorable events in my career on Sunday, February 5, 2017 – Super Bowl LI in Houston.?I was selected by the office to head up the FBI’s Visiting Public Safety Officers (VPSO) group.?At every Super Bowl, public safety officials from cities hosting the next two Super Bowl games attend days of meetings before the game and then the game itself.?The intent is to educate them about security procedures, protocols and best practices.?There were approximately 17 people from Minneapolis, Atlanta and Korea (hosting the World Cup) that were in the FBI group.?Meetings lasted from dawn to well after dark on the Thursday – Saturday before the game.?On game day, we received All Access credentials that enabled us to go anywhere on the grounds (except the owner’s box and field).?We walked around for a couple of hours observing how things were done, and then went to several parties, including both teams’ fan parties and the Commissioner’s party.?I cannot begin to identify all the celebrities and former players and coaches I saw, several of whom I had a chance to converse with.?The All-Access credential did not give us a seat so prior to the kickoff we found some open seats on the Club Level and watched the entire game.?I can now say I attended the Super Bowl, but to tell a secret, I must admit the best place to actually watch the game is on your own couch at home.??

I retired from the Bureau at the end of November 2017.?When I joined the FBI on May 21, 1989, I never imagined the fulfilling and exciting career that lay before me.?Throughout my career, I always tried to find innovative and more efficient ways of doing things, and I think that enhanced my longevity.?Additionally, I believed in treating people right and never considered myself better than anyone else.?We have different roles we play but are all on the same team.?As I expressed when I retired, I would never have had the success I did without the help and support from so many others with whom I worked throughout my career.?Remember, at the end of your own career one day, you will not regret the things you did; you will regret the things you did not do.?Therefore, take every opportunity to improve yourself and others too.?Build your success by bringing people with you and not at their expense.?

I will always be proud of my FBI career and grateful for all the FBI has done for me personally and professionally.??