Fighting
Spies, Terrorists, Drugs, Human Trafficking, Financial Fraud, Cyber-crime and Organized Crime in the Pacific.
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That’s all in a day’s work for the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge in Honolulu, Charlene Thornton
The modern Federal Bureau of Investigation hardly resembles the time-honored Hollywood image of a serious and somewhat mysterious agency populated by even-toned and dour men in dark clothing who strike fear into the hearts of bad men everywhere. While part of that image remains true today - it is still a male-dominated organization and they continue to get a kick out of catching a bad guy - the agency that is responsible for enforcing some 300-plus federal statutes is now a high-tech organization tasked with stopping terrorism, online predators, espionage, Ponzi schemes and an assortment of other crimes that Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (on The F.B.I., a 1960-70s TV series) never dreamed of handling. It’s also a heck of a way to make a living - so says Charlene Thornton, the special agent in charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Honolulu division.
“It certainly can be very stressful, but it has been a tremendous career for me,” says Thornton. “It’s been great. I’ve been able to live all over the country and do work with some of the smartest and most talented people in the world.”
Thornton took over as SAC May 1 after previous postings in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Birmingham,Ala., and now twice in Honolulu.
And just like the guys who used to chase after criminals in their dark Ford sedans, getting the collar is still a reason to celebrate.
“It feels good. It feels very good (making an arrest),” she says. “It always feels good to put the handcuffs on a bad guy, but it probably feels even better after a significant lengthy investigation that you’ve worked very hard for.”
Thornton began her FBI career after a recruiter convinced her that law enforcement was a better career option than her planned goal of becoming a tax attorney. Thornton was a law student in Indiana in the late 1970s, and at the time the FBI was looking to expand opportunities for female agents. Even with such promising employment, it wasn’t a slam dunk. Thornton figured the FBI would be a good way to while away a few years before helping people with their 1040As. After 30 years on the job, she has no regrets.
“The FBI turned out to be an awful a lot of fun and I never got around to that tax lawyer career,” says Thornton with a smile.
The FBI has made great strides in bringing women into the field, but Thornton is still in the minority. Her graduating class boasted just two women, and currently she is only one of 10 women, out of 56 field offices, to have achieved her level of responsibility. But while the agency still has a way to go before evening out its ranks, Thornton doesn’t see herself as a trailblazer for future SACs.
“I came into the agency in 1979, and the first women came into the FBI in 1972 - they were the real ground-breakers. By the time I came in in ‘79, they had made great strides and broken through a lot of barriers, and things were easier.”
According to special agent Tom Simon, women now make up 35 percent of the agent trainees at the academy in Quantico, Va.
Even with all the movies and television shows, the agency remains a somewhat mysterious entity. Most of us just don’t get to meet FBI agents, and once we do, apprehension is often the first reaction. Thornton has been through that many times and says that most people are surprised upon hearing about her employment.
“People most generally don’t know what we do. Our job is certainly portrayed in the media, in movies and TV shows as being very, very exciting and even a little weird and all that,” says Thornton. “So there is a lot of mystery, and people don’t really know what we do.”
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Just for the record, there is nothing to fear. Unless, of course, you’re the subject of one of their world-famous lists that began in 1950 as a way to help investigations and to promote the arrests made by the FBI. The bureau now has two lists, 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and 10 Most Wanted Terrorists - Usama bin Laden is the only person on both. The reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the terrorist leader is now $27 million.
Like everyone working in federal law enforcement, intelligence and anti-terrorism, the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, left Thornton with a sick feeling and questions about what more could or should have been done. As she watched the coverage unfold on the TV in her Birmingham office, one thing became very clear - everything had immediately changed.
“It was just an unbelievable moment that I knew it would forever change the FBI because we are the agency responsible for counterterrorism, and this is the first time there has been a significant attack on the homeland, on the United States. It really brought home the awesome responsibility of the position that I don’t know that I had understood in that way before,” she said, pausing to search for the right words, the memories of her emotions clearly visible. “I had been in charge of an office maybe six months and I felt the responsibility to protect the people of my territory from terrorism, and that’s a pretty awesome responsibility.”
The FBI wasn’t the only law enforcement agency caught by surprise during the early morning attacks. It shares jurisdiction and has overlapping responsibilities with other federal agencies and that, says Thornton, was a reason why everyone was caught off guard:
“That was part of the problem. There were a number of agencies with pieces of the pie and parts of the responsibility, and there weren’t any good mechanisms to share that information and to work together like we do today.”
Thornton says the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which was created in the wake of the attacks, has eliminated many of the problems that plagued the law enforcement and intelligence communities.
“I think it probably took a couple of years, maybe a little bit longer, to really get our Joint Terrorism Task Forces working together. I don’t think it took us long to come together and work together to ensure the protection of our population. What’s harder is working through the sharing of information, the technical issues, the classification of issues - all those were much more difficult. The issues were even more difficult with the Department of Defense and
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