Talk:Special agent

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 April 2020 and 5 June 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): ShanyaVB.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:58, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Meaning and use
Re: Law of agency

As I understand it, it actually has a very specific use. A special agent thus have some powers transfered to them (but not all) and are able to act in lieu of a principal. In the case of the FEDs you discuss, the individals that have that designation can use some but not all of the US federal power. What they can and cant do would probably depend almost entirely on the agency in question. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.103.203.24 (talk) 13:08, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

A special agent is a very fierce tiger who lives in england and his name is flugenheymer!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.230.73.214 (talk) 18:44, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Globalize/USA
A special agent may or may not refer to someone from the USA federal govt, but at the moment it does. It seems like some kind of political anti-American sentiment to place the template at the top of the page. Other nationalities are welcome to put references to local special agents

Agreed. I removed the Globalize reference. Not every term in wikipedia is used internationally. Google Special Agent. If you can find some other international reference, then please include in the article. As for additional references for disambiguation, the links to USAJOBS were just that! This article is specific to an occupation for which the best representation and supporting documentation is, in fact, current job announcements. I went to great deal of effort to develop the different links to USAJOBS to make that point, but obviously some other editor missed the point and deleted them. They should be re-inserted.Ajtrogue (talk) 16:16, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, but I ask from germany to anderstand the "Special agent" as a "rank". In germany you can assign every civil or military degree together. A normal high scool teacher is for example as rank the same as a major ("A13"). Is it possible to assign the "Special agent" to a military rank, so we ca classify that rank, at least passably? MV --79.199.130.4 (talk) 20:44, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Director
Who is the Current director of the FBI

- Robert S. Mueller, III

"ICE Special Agents are not limited to operating at or near ports of entry, but instead can operate anywhere in the US and even enforce US law and international treaties overseas."

- It seems that although they may be given the authority to, I highly doubt other countries allow the US to enforce its own laws outside US Borders. Perhaps a re-wording? I do not know the exactly what is correct in this situation - Misha

My reading of this issue is: American (or any other nation's) LEOs may not enforce their own laws in a foreign nation (in situations where extradition would be inappropriate, impractical or unlikely to be obtained) without: Though I'm no lawyer.Editus Reloaded 17:47, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
 * 1) Probable cause that a crime has been committed (the same burden of proof as an arrest warrant)
 * 2) The permission of the "host" nation state

Special Agent v Agent
The post below this is rather exceedingly incorrect. Analysts and linguists are not intelligence officers. Additionally, FBI counterintelligence Special Agents, DO have arrest authority as they are both intelligence officers and law enforcement officers. -inside source

This is incorrect. Intelligence analysts/linguist/etc. are considered intelligence officers, not agents. Agent in intelligence parlance usually refers to indigenous sources that are recruited by human intelligence officers as informants. ''The only exception to this is in the defense agencies where counterintelligence personnel are formally called "special agents." They are still intelligence officers and don't have arrest authority but do other activities such as offensive counterintelligence operations or other efforts to mitigate espionage, sabotage, terrorism, or assassination.''

'''The preceding statement is untrue. Counterintelligence Special Agents have law enforcement authority including investigative and arrest authority. Source: Army Regulation (AR) 381-20 Chapters 4 (investigations) and 8 (Section II).'''In the intelligence world, "special agent" isn't synonymous with supervisory positions, individual worth, or anything heirarchicial - "special" simply means "focused" as in they focus on specific cases rather than taking on a multitude of tasks simultaneously. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:14B:302:698C:B498:6DDE:85D3:490F (talk) 01:36, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Comment Friends, when the original poster referred to CI personnel, not CI Special Agents. An intelligence analyst assigned to CI duties has no arrest authority. I.E. NCIS personnel who does analysis and does not have field duties. However a CI Special Agent is a US Army position that does carry Federal Agent status, including arrest authority for National Security crimes. The term Special Agent is present in the USC I believe but there are times where it applies outside of the code's specification. Most US Special Agent positions (1811 positions) require completion of a Bachelors degree and FLETC (or equivalent), however CI Special Agents do not have this requirement. After completion of CISAC, they have the title Special Agent. In addition of course we have agencies that use the title for non 1811 investigative positions. Sephiroth storm (talk) 21:39, 7 June 2019 (UTC)

Shows like X-Files, Without A Trace, NCIS seem to differentiate between "Agents" and "Special Agents", with the latter being in charge. Is this accurate? Rojomoke 13:34, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

The title special agent refers to criminal investigator positions. Special agents are not restricted to being supervisors. In the federal realm, the title special agent applies to anyone classified as job series 1811. Sometimes support personnel employed in non-criminal investigative positions such as intelligence analysts or linguists may be referred to as 'agents' but it is not exclusive to support personnel as sometimes special agents use the term 'agent' when referring to themselves as well. Special Agents in supervisory positions go by the title 'SAC' or Special Agent in Charge, 'ASAC', assistant special agent in charge and below them you have Resident Agent in Charge 'RAC' or group supervisors.

Renli3d 09:42, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

The history of the title of Special Agent is relevant here. Typically, in legal terms, someone acting as an "Agent" for the government does not necessarily need to be a paid employee. For example, an informant in a criminal case may provide information/evidence, and therefore be referred to as an "agent" for the government in legal documents and court proceedings. A Special Agent is a mere title, but typically has been applied to those directly employed for government agencies.

Also, I think it's possible that what you are seeing is just an abreviated form of the Title "Special Agent" when you hear someone addressed simply as "Agent." They are not two different titles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.248.24.165 (talk) 17:15, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

ICE Jurisdiction
"It seems that although they may be given the authority to, I highly doubt other countries allow the US to enforce its own laws outside US Borders. Perhaps a re-wording? I do not know the exactly what is correct in this situation - Misha"

-Misha,

I think you are correct in questioning this authority, although ICE does have offices worldwide, for the most part, they do not actually have law enforcement authority to execute arrest and serve warrants and such (Even for international intelligence agencies like the CIA, seizing persons is very risky and many times an illegal act). ICE's authority sometimes lies under exchange agreements with the foreign governments, which usually means that the U.S. extends the same courtesies to the foreign country's agents in the U.S. (As you can image the U.S. Constitution would not allow foreign governments to make arrests and act as law enforcement while visiting the U.S.) Under most circumstances, these agreements only allow ICE to work in more of a consulting or intelligence role rather than an "international law enforcer". As a matter of fact, this international role is not unique to ICE; quite a few other agencies have similar exchange agreements or other agreements with foreign governments, to include among other agencies: the U.S. Marshal Service, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the DEA, and the FBI and the military agencies.

"ICE agents not only have the power to enforce all federal laws..."

- This line is little misleading, it appears to purport that ICE has this authority exclusively, it may need to be reworded. Most 1811, criminal investigators have the power to enforce all federal laws, especially when one of the laws being violated is tied to the specific agent's jurisdiction. (IE, ICE cannot just pick up a tax evasion case without the IRS' involvement and usually their involvement in a tax case would have to be related to a violation wihtin ICE's jurisdiction of immigration and customs laws. On the other hand, an agency like the DEA or ATF can charge bank fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud or mail fraud, when investigating drug or gun violations, when these fraud charges may be linked to money laundering of illegal proceeds).

"...but also applicable state & local laws, if so authorized by the state they are operating within."

This line is also misleading, again the wording connotes that ICE has this authority that other agencies do not (it falls right below the argument that ICE has the broadest authority). ICE is not the sole federal law enforcement agency authorized to enforce state and local laws. This authority is not granted by the federal government or the specific law enforcement agency, but by the individual state. There is no state in the U.S. that has granted peace officer status to ICE alone, in every state that ICE has been granted limited or full "peace officer authority", other federal agencies would have been granted similar authorities. As a matter of fact many states have not updated their books and do not recognize ICE as an agency but grant these authorities to the "Immigration and Naturalization Service" and/or the "U.S. Customs Service." Even with the granted authority from the state, by policy, some agencies dissuade or prohibit their investigators from enforcing state violations.

-Shoe

Shoepolish22 07:37, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Jobsearch?
I found 19 links to jobsearch.usajobs.gov. Surely valid links if you're looking for a job, but I can't see the point of these links in an encyclopedic entry. One link under References should suffice, if at all. Clean-up? – Adrian Lozano (talk) 21:07, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

I inserted these links because they targeted specific positions related to the context in which they were being discussed. The job announcements give specific detail as to the requirements to become a special agent and the different types of work expected of special agents at different agencies. Wikipedia is BIG on documenting independent sources. What better way to support information in the article than with real-time job announcements which reinforce and further expound upon these details. "Clean up" would mean "water down."Ajtrogue (talk) 16:16, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Job series 1811
This is mentioned several times but not explained or detailed. The Office of Personnel Management article referenced nearby doesn't mention or explain what a job series is, let alone what 1811 is. Anyone? 78.149.235.150 (talk) 00:41, 17 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I was looking at this talk page for the very same reason. It's a pity nobody has picked this up in the last four years... --Bogdan Wolynetz (talk) 15:56, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Special Agent
I am puzzled about the term. Is special agent somehow different from ordinary agents or regular agents? What is special about them? --77.109.221.214 (talk) 20:14, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Nothing. It simply means they are focused on a specific case and follow through with it in the same vein that special operators in the military are "special" because of their function, not necessarily because of who they are. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:14B:302:698C:B498:6DDE:85D3:490F (talk) 01:39, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Removing special agent website section
This reads like an ad and should be removed. Jbaer50 (talk) 16:44, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

Clarity
"In the FBI, the heads of the Washington DC, New York City and Los Angeles offices are called Assistant Directors In Charge (ADIC) due to their large size."

Just how fat are these guys? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.193.136.83 (talk) 05:27, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

Justice
How can a man assault a woman punch front teeth out and then next week punch her daughter in the face..police called both times and he sont go to jail 98.186.197.33 (talk) 08:59, 26 June 2023 (UTC)