Special agent travels to SFA to speak to students about areas of FBI
By: Marie Leonard
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News
Career Services sponsored a symposium on Crime, Civil Rights and Terrorism on Tuesday afternoon, featuring three FBI agents with ties to East Texas.
Robert E. Casey, special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office, spoke mainly about the three core business areas of the FBI, which include national security, a counter intelligence program and cyber crime. SFA Board of Regents member Carlos Amaral introduced Casey after a short film on the origin of the FBI. "As some of you may know, the FBI has a hostage rescue team," Casey said. "We heard there's a hostage situation dealing with a Chief Caddo being held at Northwestern State so we may be able to help," he said with a laugh.
Casey was appointed special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office in 2006 and is in charge of 137 counties in North Texas and portions of East and West Texas. This territory covers 125,000 square miles and is home to more than nine million residents. "Everyone has perceptions about the FBI, but there are three core business areas we tend to focus on," Casey said.
The first topic Casey discussed was the issue of national security. "Our number one priority is the prevention of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and being able to understand foreign and domestic abilities," Casey said. Bridging the information gap between America and foreign countries is important but hard to accomplish. "We have thousands of employees who work in that arena every day," Casey said.
The counter intelligence program is the second priority Casey discussed, but he acknowledged it is the area the public hears least about. "Counter intelligence consists of activities conducted by the government to repel the acts of other governments working against us," Casey said. According to the agent counter intelligence is treated like a cat-and-mouse game in the spy world. The ultimate goal is recruiting a foreign spy to work for the U.S. while committing espionage against his or her own country. "It is a nasty, ugly and dangerous game played in a room of mirrors and shadows, but this must be done in order to protect our country," Casey said.
Robert E. Casey, special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office, spoke mainly about the three core business areas of the FBI, which include national security, a counter intelligence program and cyber crime. SFA Board of Regents member Carlos Amaral introduced Casey after a short film on the origin of the FBI. "As some of you may know, the FBI has a hostage rescue team," Casey said. "We heard there's a hostage situation dealing with a Chief Caddo being held at Northwestern State so we may be able to help," he said with a laugh.
Casey was appointed special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office in 2006 and is in charge of 137 counties in North Texas and portions of East and West Texas. This territory covers 125,000 square miles and is home to more than nine million residents. "Everyone has perceptions about the FBI, but there are three core business areas we tend to focus on," Casey said.
The first topic Casey discussed was the issue of national security. "Our number one priority is the prevention of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and being able to understand foreign and domestic abilities," Casey said. Bridging the information gap between America and foreign countries is important but hard to accomplish. "We have thousands of employees who work in that arena every day," Casey said.
The counter intelligence program is the second priority Casey discussed, but he acknowledged it is the area the public hears least about. "Counter intelligence consists of activities conducted by the government to repel the acts of other governments working against us," Casey said. According to the agent counter intelligence is treated like a cat-and-mouse game in the spy world. The ultimate goal is recruiting a foreign spy to work for the U.S. while committing espionage against his or her own country. "It is a nasty, ugly and dangerous game played in a room of mirrors and shadows, but this must be done in order to protect our country," Casey said.
Be the first to comment on this story