The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the nation’s federal law enforcement and domestic intelligence agency. Its overriding priority is to protect the U.S. against potential terrorist attacks, and to investigate both foreign and domestic terrorist organizations.
Other national security priorities of this agency include protecting the US against spies and would be cyberattackers. FBI careers in Denver also involve the fight against public corruption, violent street gangs, white-collar crime, and federal violations of civil rights.
The Denver Division of the FBI has been in existence since the earliest days of the Bureau. FBI agents in Denver have been influential in some of the Bureau’s most high-profile efforts to enlist citizens in the fight against crime. They launched the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Program in 1950, and Denver FBI agents have apprehended a number of these fugitives.
How to Become an FBI Special Agent in Denver: Training and Degree Requirements
U.S. citizens who wish to become members of an elite force that fights terrorism and other types of crime are invited to apply to become FBI employees through formal training programs. The requirements on how to become an FBI agent in Denver include:
- Being between 23 to 37 years old
- Having at least a Bachelor’s degree
- Having a minimum of two years of professional experience
- Being willing to go anywhere
People with intelligence or military experience are in particular demand, as are individuals with experience in the physical sciences or engineering.
Those who seek FBI jobs in Denver can apply online or at the Denver Field Office. Before undergoing formal training, those who are accepted as potential candidates will face a variety of tests.
FBI Field Offices and Jobs in the Denver Division
The Denver Division of the FBI consists of the main office in Denver that is located in a new building made of bomb proof walls. It oversees six counties in Colorado. In addition, there are six satellite offices in Colorado and four in Wyoming that provide jobs for FBI agents. The Colorado satellite offices are found in:
- Colorado Springs
- Durango
- Fort Collins
- Glenwood Springs
- Grand Junction
- Pueblo
The FBI in Collaborative Partnerships with Other Law Enforcement Agencies
This jurisdiction of the FBI employs members of its Counterterrorism Division. In 1997, the Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) was created. It was strengthened in the wake of 9/11 and is supported by the Denver Field Intelligence Group that also joins forces with the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CAIC).
The former head of the Denver FBI Field Office worked with information provided by the CAIC to disrupt an Al-Qaida bomb plot. In one of the most high profile cases since 9/11, Aurora, Colorado resident Najibullah Zazi had assembled explosives in Colorado and then traveled to New York City in 2009 to detonate them, where he was arrested.
FBI agents in Denver can also find jobs in a dedicated squad of the Counterintelligence Division of the agency, and the Cyber Division of the agency is also active in the Denver area.
The Denver Field Office also works closely with other agencies to combat violent gangs such as drug traffickers. Part of the area making up this territory has been designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Most of the distribution of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in this area is controlled by Mexican organizations.
Other criminal organizations are also active in this area. FBI agents were involved in the 2008 indictments of 27 members of a street gang known as Asian Pride for distributing Ecstasy (MDMA).
The FBI also partners with other agencies to help investigate crimes such as kidnapping and murder. In October 2012, 50 FBI agents helped the Westminster Police Department to investigate the murder of 10 year old Jessica Richardson, whose dismembered body was found a few miles from her home in Arvada. Her killer was turned in by his mother following the release of a behavioral profile released by the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI.
In the first two months of 2013 alone, the work of FBI agents in the Denver Division resulted in lengthy sentences for a school administrator who had distributed 125 images of child pornography and an individual who had orchestrated a $1.7 million real estate scheme.