The FBI is America’s domestic federal intelligence and law enforcement agency. As a threat-focused and intelligence-driven agency, the FBI’s principle mission is to protect and defend against terrorism, foreign intelligence breeches, while enforcing criminal laws and upholding the Constitution of the United States.
The FBI employs over 36,000 people in regional field offices, local satellite branches, and in U.S. embassies around the world. Each day agents and other specialized FBI professionals work to uphold the Bureau’s motto: “Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity.”
FBI Careers Available in Mississippi
FBI jobs in Mississippi include specialized professionals as well as Special Agents. Professionals and agents work together to give the Jackson Division its greatest strength: providing solid investigations and superb evidence that will stand in a court of law. This includes conducting interviews, developing informants, running undercover operations, analyzing financial records, and conducting surveillance operations. FBI jobs in Mississippi include Special Agents who work in the following units:
Evidence Response Team: The Jackson Division ERT is made up of eight Special Agents who specialize in gathering evidence at crime scenes. This includes taking photographs, collecting DNA samples, blood analysis, dusting for fingerprints, and determining bullet trajectories.
Computer Analysis and Response Team: CART Agents basically do the same thing as an ERT, but digitally. With the growing use of computers, agents must be particularly adept in all the latest means and methods of obtaining electronic evidence from a variety of different sources, and then ensuring this will be presentable in court.
Specialized Weapons and Tactics Team: Better known as the SWAT Team, Mississippi has a 12-agent highly trained contingent specializing in hostage situations, breaching locks, vehicles, and buildings, and expertise in using shot guns as well as assault and sniper rifles.
Bomb Recovery and Analysis: The Jackson Division currently has one bomb technician. This agent can diffuse and inspect suspicious packages and often works with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The agent gathers evidence from unexploded or exploded devices and trains local first responders and law enforcement.
Hazardous Materials: The Mississippi hazardous materials agent is also the Weapons of Mass Destruction coordinator, responsible for alerting the appropriate authorities and investigators in the case of a biological, chemical, or nuclear incident.
How to Become an FBI Agent in Mississippi
There are stringent FBI requirements in Mississippi for becoming an agent. The prospective candidate must first meet the basic requirements, pass a series of tests, and receive a letter of acceptance before training can begin. Careers with the FBI in Mississippi are demanding both mentally and physically, though they are also rewarding. The basic minimum qualifications are as follows:
- U.S. citizen
- Between the ages of 23 and 36
- Possess a four-year degree from an accredited university
- Have at least two years professional work experience
- Possess a driver’s license
- Pass a rigorous background investigation
- Meet specific physical requirements
The History of High-Profile Federal Cases in Mississippi
The FBI’s regional headquarters is located in Jackson, with seven additional supporting satellite bureaus dispersed throughout the state. The Jackson Headquarters was established in 1941 following expanded FBI operations stemming from the U.S. entry into World War Two.
Since then FBI Agents have had a long and eventful path to the present day. Some of the first cases agents in Mississippi pursued were against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s. During the period of the Civil Rights Movement Mississippi was a hotspot for confrontation and criminal activity, keeping FBI Agents busy investigating assassinations, church bombings, bus burnings, shootings, and riots. Also in the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster, agents from the Jackson Division assisted local law enforcement in Mississippi and Louisiana.