In November, 13News Now brought you exclusive access inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation training academy in Quantico. Only we were able to show you what it takes to train to be in the FBI. Now, we're learning some of the things you take for granted every day are, for the most part, off limits to agents and analysts.
There are about 58 million tweets every day. 250 billion photos have been uploaded to Facebook. It's become a way of life to post a selfie or send a snap. But when you join the FBI, the Bureau becomes your way of life, and not being able to have that life posted on social media, is just one of the sacrifices.
Almost everyone we asked at Quantico had the same response. Joining the Bureau requires sacrifice.
“Joining the Bureau is a lifestyle,” Basic Field Training Course Unit Chief Kellie Holland said. “This is not something that you just do and put away. It's not a nine to five job, it's a calling. Not only are you going to make sacrifices but your family is going to make sacrifices.”
Holland would know. She’s been in the FBI for 14 years.
“I don't regret a single day that I've spent in the FBI,” she recalled. “It has been sometimes a sacrifice of other things I'd like to do.”
That sacrifice starts at the very beginning of training at Quantico. Holland told 13News Now it's not just the time commitment and being away from your family, unlike most of the world, at Quantico, cell phones and social media are strictly limited.
“They struggle with that concept of 'ok I can't update my status every time I turn around,'” she explained. “We basically take them out of their comfort zone and we bring them into the Quantico bubble, if you will.”
This way there are no distractions for the important work they do there.
“That in itself separates them from that support network that they're used to and we do that because we want them to recognize their studies,” Holland stated. “That's a challenge. It's a very rigorous training program. It's not an easy training program.”
Those rules also build the team mentality the FBI requires.
“They need to learn to depend on each other and they're not going to do it if they continue to go back to their former support network,” Holland described. “They need to learn that this is now their family. They need to learn to trust each other and earn each other's trust and respect.”
All of this is supposed to help keep them safer when they leave Quantico and get to the field offices.
“I think as they get their investigative chops, if you will, then they'll start to see 'oh, maybe I need to rethink what I post on there because I'm using that same information to my advantage,'” Holland added. “Friend of foe could use that.”