Apparently the Trillions in deficit spending isn't going towards decent pay for FBI employees:
Also Thuggery isn't just reserved for the Private sector, I'm sure Tenet, Ridge and their buddies are making tons of money compared to the lowly $39K Field Agents and see raises every year.
4-5-2004 Low pay squeezes FBI agents - and perhaps U.S. security
He is a law school graduate and a former Marine captain who seems to be living his career dream: to be an FBI agent, protecting the United States from terrorists and other criminals.
But when the 34-year-old Long Island native leaves his New York City office, he returns to a life he says he never bargained for: a spartan rented room here, 42 miles south of the city. Assigned to one of the world's most expensive cities with a salary of just $48,000 - and with more than $106,000 in student loans to pay off and credit-card debts near $10,000 - he says it's all he can afford.
"I took an oath when I joined the FBI," says the agent, who has been with the FBI for four years and who asked not to be identified. "I never thought it would also include a vow of poverty."
His story is similar to those of dozens of FBI agents whose dire financial situations have created what bureau officials acknowledge is a growing threat to national security.
Aside from minor cost-of-living increases, agents' salaries have been roughly the same for more than a decade.
Like other agents, he says his family's situation has been made worse by his spouse's inability to find work. The agent says his family has used up savings to meet expenses.
"My wife and I are struggling," he says.
In Boston, an agent who makes $46,800 a year says she has fallen behind on mortgage payments, and says her unemployed husband is considering filing for public assistance
Dale Watson, a former director of counterterrorism for the FBI, agrees that agents' low salaries pose a security risk.
"We signed up knowing we weren't gonna get rich," says Watson, an executive at a security company. "But it used to be the FBI was a career that nobody left. It ain't that way any more."
Also Thuggery isn't just reserved for the Private sector, I'm sure Tenet, Ridge and their buddies are making tons of money compared to the lowly $39K Field Agents and see raises every year.
4-5-2004 Low pay squeezes FBI agents - and perhaps U.S. security
He is a law school graduate and a former Marine captain who seems to be living his career dream: to be an FBI agent, protecting the United States from terrorists and other criminals.
But when the 34-year-old Long Island native leaves his New York City office, he returns to a life he says he never bargained for: a spartan rented room here, 42 miles south of the city. Assigned to one of the world's most expensive cities with a salary of just $48,000 - and with more than $106,000 in student loans to pay off and credit-card debts near $10,000 - he says it's all he can afford.
"I took an oath when I joined the FBI," says the agent, who has been with the FBI for four years and who asked not to be identified. "I never thought it would also include a vow of poverty."
His story is similar to those of dozens of FBI agents whose dire financial situations have created what bureau officials acknowledge is a growing threat to national security.
Aside from minor cost-of-living increases, agents' salaries have been roughly the same for more than a decade.
Like other agents, he says his family's situation has been made worse by his spouse's inability to find work. The agent says his family has used up savings to meet expenses.
"My wife and I are struggling," he says.
In Boston, an agent who makes $46,800 a year says she has fallen behind on mortgage payments, and says her unemployed husband is considering filing for public assistance
Dale Watson, a former director of counterterrorism for the FBI, agrees that agents' low salaries pose a security risk.
"We signed up knowing we weren't gonna get rich," says Watson, an executive at a security company. "But it used to be the FBI was a career that nobody left. It ain't that way any more."
Facebook
Twitter