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You may not know the ins and outs of these two American agencies, but I bet you know about their fascinating activities, whether through the media, documentaries, or old Hollywood movies. Both are shrouded in mystery to some extent, can be accused of duplicity, bear the scars of numerous scandals, and are still the subject of conspiracy theories today. Whatever your view, the duo is a catalyst for excitement, intrigue, and fear. While we can’t promise you declassified agency action, we can give you a few minutes of fascinating facts in this episode of FBI vs. CIA Infographic World.
We’ll start with a brief history of the two agencies. The FBI, or Federal Bureau of Investigation, was the brainchild of Attorney General Charles Bonaparte. In 1908, he and President Theodore Roosevelt agreed that the Justice Department needed a corps of special agents. At the time, it had no name and it was said that the two men were unsure how to recruit agents.
According to the FBI website, Bonaparte jokingly told the president that the candidates should shoot each other and whoever survived would get the job. Soon after, the Bureau of Investigation (BII) was created and 34 men were hired from the start to work as special agents in every state in America. In 1935, it officially became known as the FBI. As you know, it initiated the Mafia investigation that we still see on the big screen today, and from 1924 to 1972, the controversial crime icon known as J. Edgar Hoover served as its director.
Mafiosi were not Hoover’s only concern, and much of the FBI’s resources were spent investigating political radicals during the Great Depression, which later included reducing the influence of communist sympathies on Americans.
The FBI's historical investigations are, of course, too numerous to list, with the most famous being the beautifully sweetheart robbers Bonnie and Clyde, the white collar crimes of Enron, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, Watergate, and of course, 2011. The FBI currently has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 56 major offices in major cities across the United States, as well as more than 350 smaller offices across the country. It also has about 60 offices in other countries. It employs about 35,000 people, including special agents, including scientists, intelligence analysts, language specialists, and those with significant IT acumen.
Contrary to popular belief, the FBI does not simply avoid the police in major investigations because they do not have the necessary powers. State and local officers also cooperate with the FBI. The Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, was an intelligence agency that focused on national security rather than domestic crime, although sometimes one overlapped the other.
The CIA's main concerns were terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, knowledge of what dangers or political upheavals were occurring around the world. This could be called espionage, and more recently, cyber intelligence. It was created on July 26, 1947, when Harry Strowman signed the National Security Act. The CIA has been involved in numerous conflicts, again too many to count, but including the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, an attempt to institute a
military coup in Indonesia, an attempt to quash all manner of pro-communist movements around the world, the Vietnam War, and the questionable arming of insurgents when the US thought it would benefit from it. The CIA is an intelligence agency, but it uses its brains and brawn to manipulate countries, governments, and factions outside of government. The number of people working for the CIA is not disclosed, but its employees are experts in many fields. It is a highly secretive organization, but it produces millions of pages of exposés, many of which are historical.
Unlike the FBI, the CIA's website says it never monitors US citizens, although it also says it has reason to believe that some individuals are involved in espionage or international terrorist activity. Most employees are based in Washington, D.C., at its headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but agents are also stationed around the world, often working undercover. Do the two agencies cooperate?
That, too, is a matter of debate, and people have written books that define the war between the agencies. The CIA's website says their relationship is strong because threats to national security come in all shapes and sizes, and so information can be shared. This information could relate to drug trafficking, money laundering, organized crime, and terrorism. However, after 9/11, Congress concluded that because the intelligence was not shared responsibly, the potential countermeasures did not occur.
The New York Times says they couldn’t counter the threat from Al Qaeda. So yes and no, they work together, but it seems like the relationship can be a little rocky at times. On the other hand, the CIA is focused on collecting information and can’t make arrests. On the other hand, the FBI can technically investigate a CIA agent and make an arrest if that agent has broken federal law. So what do you have to do to get into one of these teams?
To join the FBI, you have to be between the ages of 23 and 37. You need a 4-year college degree, 3 years of experience, and a driver’s license. It’s best to have a qualification in one of the following categories – language, residency, accounting, computer science, information technology, or, simply put, be diversified. Then your skills will be a priority and can be useful in a variety of things from accounting to law enforcement, combat expertise, or finance.
If you’re approved, even after all of that, you’ll have to pass a series of tough tests. You have to be athletic enough to pass a 300-meter sprint, do push-ups, and run 2,400 meters. Then there are medical checks, background checks, and polygraphs. Pass these and you can become anything from a regular FBI officer to a sniper or behavioral analyst. You also have to spend 20 weeks training at the FBI Academy in Juantico, Virginia. Not surprisingly, the CIA is also strict about who they accept.
Again, not all workers are covert spies. You can do anything with a background in math or economics. Most of its undercover employees are between the ages of 26 and 35. Like the FBI, background checks, medical checks, and polygraphs will be part of the interview process. Again, you'll need a college degree, knowledge of international relations, and if you've traveled the world and speak multiple languages, the CIA says it's a bonus. The CIA says on its website that some of the skills needed are the ability to analyze data, have strong negotiation skills, diplomacy, and criminal investigation experience.
And if you have knowledge of criminology, national security, or emergency management, that's a plus. You'll have to complete a 56-day criminal investigation training program and train for another 18 months at their headquarters. If you want to get a feel for how the CIA works, you can work as an intern any time of year.
Of course, if you prove yourself useful and get your proverbial foot in the door. Where is the best place to work? It depends. One of the big questions when working for the CIA is whether you are a secret agent, as their website states in bold letters, “Friends, family members, individuals, or organizations may be interested to know that you are an applicant or employee of the CIA.” It goes on to say that it is in your best interest not to tell anyone. A very bold statement, hinting at the kind of life you are entering.
On the surface, for some people, the life of an undercover agent can be very interesting. You may know things that go against your conscience, you may see things you never wanted to see. It depends on how deep you go. In an interview, a former CIA agent responded when asked if he needed it: “I ask myself the same question every day – was it worth it?” The FBI does not emphasize this kind of secret from their friends and loved ones. You’re probably more likely to get killed on the job, as the FBI Hall of Fame can tell you.
You’re dealing with criminals, which means sometimes seeing the aftermath of their destruction. In an interview, a former agent said that’s not the worst part, but the fact that you spend most of your life away from your family. You can only tell them what you’re doing. A former agent told Business Insider, “There’s very little information that an FBI agent can’t share with someone. We can usually talk about what we’re working on or have worked on in the past.
As for pay, at the FBI it scales as you progress.” A new agent, according to one website, makes about $47,000, while a senior agent can make more than $130,000 a year. The CIA website estimates the salary of a special investigator to be between $74,000 and $137,000.
See you next time!
We’ll start with a brief history of the two agencies. The FBI, or Federal Bureau of Investigation, was the brainchild of Attorney General Charles Bonaparte. In 1908, he and President Theodore Roosevelt agreed that the Justice Department needed a corps of special agents. At the time, it had no name and it was said that the two men were unsure how to recruit agents.
According to the FBI website, Bonaparte jokingly told the president that the candidates should shoot each other and whoever survived would get the job. Soon after, the Bureau of Investigation (BII) was created and 34 men were hired from the start to work as special agents in every state in America. In 1935, it officially became known as the FBI. As you know, it initiated the Mafia investigation that we still see on the big screen today, and from 1924 to 1972, the controversial crime icon known as J. Edgar Hoover served as its director.
Mafiosi were not Hoover’s only concern, and much of the FBI’s resources were spent investigating political radicals during the Great Depression, which later included reducing the influence of communist sympathies on Americans.
The FBI's historical investigations are, of course, too numerous to list, with the most famous being the beautifully sweetheart robbers Bonnie and Clyde, the white collar crimes of Enron, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, Watergate, and of course, 2011. The FBI currently has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 56 major offices in major cities across the United States, as well as more than 350 smaller offices across the country. It also has about 60 offices in other countries. It employs about 35,000 people, including special agents, including scientists, intelligence analysts, language specialists, and those with significant IT acumen.
Contrary to popular belief, the FBI does not simply avoid the police in major investigations because they do not have the necessary powers. State and local officers also cooperate with the FBI. The Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, was an intelligence agency that focused on national security rather than domestic crime, although sometimes one overlapped the other.
The CIA's main concerns were terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, knowledge of what dangers or political upheavals were occurring around the world. This could be called espionage, and more recently, cyber intelligence. It was created on July 26, 1947, when Harry Strowman signed the National Security Act. The CIA has been involved in numerous conflicts, again too many to count, but including the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, an attempt to institute a
military coup in Indonesia, an attempt to quash all manner of pro-communist movements around the world, the Vietnam War, and the questionable arming of insurgents when the US thought it would benefit from it. The CIA is an intelligence agency, but it uses its brains and brawn to manipulate countries, governments, and factions outside of government. The number of people working for the CIA is not disclosed, but its employees are experts in many fields. It is a highly secretive organization, but it produces millions of pages of exposés, many of which are historical.
Unlike the FBI, the CIA's website says it never monitors US citizens, although it also says it has reason to believe that some individuals are involved in espionage or international terrorist activity. Most employees are based in Washington, D.C., at its headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but agents are also stationed around the world, often working undercover. Do the two agencies cooperate?
That, too, is a matter of debate, and people have written books that define the war between the agencies. The CIA's website says their relationship is strong because threats to national security come in all shapes and sizes, and so information can be shared. This information could relate to drug trafficking, money laundering, organized crime, and terrorism. However, after 9/11, Congress concluded that because the intelligence was not shared responsibly, the potential countermeasures did not occur.
The New York Times says they couldn’t counter the threat from Al Qaeda. So yes and no, they work together, but it seems like the relationship can be a little rocky at times. On the other hand, the CIA is focused on collecting information and can’t make arrests. On the other hand, the FBI can technically investigate a CIA agent and make an arrest if that agent has broken federal law. So what do you have to do to get into one of these teams?
To join the FBI, you have to be between the ages of 23 and 37. You need a 4-year college degree, 3 years of experience, and a driver’s license. It’s best to have a qualification in one of the following categories – language, residency, accounting, computer science, information technology, or, simply put, be diversified. Then your skills will be a priority and can be useful in a variety of things from accounting to law enforcement, combat expertise, or finance.
If you’re approved, even after all of that, you’ll have to pass a series of tough tests. You have to be athletic enough to pass a 300-meter sprint, do push-ups, and run 2,400 meters. Then there are medical checks, background checks, and polygraphs. Pass these and you can become anything from a regular FBI officer to a sniper or behavioral analyst. You also have to spend 20 weeks training at the FBI Academy in Juantico, Virginia. Not surprisingly, the CIA is also strict about who they accept.
Again, not all workers are covert spies. You can do anything with a background in math or economics. Most of its undercover employees are between the ages of 26 and 35. Like the FBI, background checks, medical checks, and polygraphs will be part of the interview process. Again, you'll need a college degree, knowledge of international relations, and if you've traveled the world and speak multiple languages, the CIA says it's a bonus. The CIA says on its website that some of the skills needed are the ability to analyze data, have strong negotiation skills, diplomacy, and criminal investigation experience.
And if you have knowledge of criminology, national security, or emergency management, that's a plus. You'll have to complete a 56-day criminal investigation training program and train for another 18 months at their headquarters. If you want to get a feel for how the CIA works, you can work as an intern any time of year.
Of course, if you prove yourself useful and get your proverbial foot in the door. Where is the best place to work? It depends. One of the big questions when working for the CIA is whether you are a secret agent, as their website states in bold letters, “Friends, family members, individuals, or organizations may be interested to know that you are an applicant or employee of the CIA.” It goes on to say that it is in your best interest not to tell anyone. A very bold statement, hinting at the kind of life you are entering.
On the surface, for some people, the life of an undercover agent can be very interesting. You may know things that go against your conscience, you may see things you never wanted to see. It depends on how deep you go. In an interview, a former CIA agent responded when asked if he needed it: “I ask myself the same question every day – was it worth it?” The FBI does not emphasize this kind of secret from their friends and loved ones. You’re probably more likely to get killed on the job, as the FBI Hall of Fame can tell you.
You’re dealing with criminals, which means sometimes seeing the aftermath of their destruction. In an interview, a former agent said that’s not the worst part, but the fact that you spend most of your life away from your family. You can only tell them what you’re doing. A former agent told Business Insider, “There’s very little information that an FBI agent can’t share with someone. We can usually talk about what we’re working on or have worked on in the past.
As for pay, at the FBI it scales as you progress.” A new agent, according to one website, makes about $47,000, while a senior agent can make more than $130,000 a year. The CIA website estimates the salary of a special investigator to be between $74,000 and $137,000.
See you next time!
