USD Magazine Spring 2010

not, you’re still an agent of the FBI and a lot of what we do carries a certain amount of risk and potential for violence.” That includes executing search and arrest warrants with riot shields raised, guns drawn and bullet-proof vests cinched tight. In particular, Iannarelli says individuals involved with the online peddling of child pornography tend to be among the suspects most resistant to apprehension. “They are often people that you’d never suspect,” Iannarelli says. “As a result, they stand to lose a lot.” Further complicating the work of policing online criminals is the fact that, as Leithead says, “cyber knows no boundaries,” a point that Tabatabaian has experienced extensively firsthand by working interna- tional cyber crime cases in nearly a dozen countries, ranging from Iceland and Thailand to Russia and Japan. He served with colleagues Jason Smolanoff and Todd Munoz, as part of the first FBI team to travel operationally throughout China during “Operation Summer Solstice,” an investigation that resulted in dozens of arrests and the seizure of more than $500 million worth of counterfeit software. For their work in Operation Summer Solstice, they received the 2008 Attorney’s General Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement. “There is a very real international component to cyber-crime,” Tabatabaian says. “It can cross borders in seconds and attack from anywhere around the world.” And you thought your workload was daunting. But extraordinarily high demands and expectations simply come with the FBI business card. “There isn’t any FBI agent who’s going to say they’re underworked,” Iannarelli chuckles. “But our job is to protect people; the fact that there are a lot of criminals out there just means there are a lot of people who need protection.” E arning the trust, if not the respect, of the people they protect isn’t always easy — especially in a turbulent, even paranoid, era of global politics and cultural upheaval. The FBI, among other federal agencies, has endured heavy scrutiny and often scathing criticism in recent years, an unavoidable reality that’s not lost on even the most dedicated and driven of public servants. “It can be challenging when public perception and politics and emotions play a part in people’s expectations of how good a job

you’re doing,” Schramm says. “But despite all the challenges, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. At the end of the day, this is an organization that’s full of exceptional individuals. We could probably go off and work other jobs, but we stay here because we believe in the mission.” It’s a mantra oft-repeated by these agents, so much so that a cynic might wonder what sort of Kool-Aid is being served in the FBI cafeteria. But, in reality, it simply takes an extraordinary amount of dedication to devote yourself to a profession that, by its very nature, is often shrouded in secrecy. “When you’re on the inside you have a much different view of things,” Iannarelli says. “I can tell you that I have not met anybody in the FBI who isn’t dedicated to the mission and who doesn’t give the full 100 percent. It’s an organization that looks for and employs the very best.” That includes recruiting the very best as well. Third-year law student Anna Russell ’10 recently became the latest USD student to complete the FBI Honors Internship program. She worked in the Cyber Division, in part under the supervision of both Leithead and Schramm, and now interns for the Chief Division Counsel at the San Diego Field Office while she completes her studies at USD. “They say when you’re doing intelligence work that your best days are when nothing happens,” Russell says. “I really gained an appreciation for all the work that goes on behind the scenes that’s impossible to showcase.” In a climate where the traditional parameters of law enforce- ment have become more malleable, both by necessity and design, the agents credit their USD education for helping them navigate the rocky legal and moral shores. But, above all, it’s a foundation of unified purpose and faith in their work, the system and the mission. “I go home at the end of every day and I feel very satisfied that the taxpayers are getting absolute value from what we do, which is to defend the United States and uphold the Constitu- tion,” Leithead says. “You come to work every day and do the right things for the right reasons. It’s a little corny, red, white and blue probably, but it’s certainly who I am and what USD helped to inspire in me.”

COMPOSITE ILLUSTRATIONS BY BARBARA FERGUSON

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USD MAGAZINE