Interview with a Counter Terrorism Unit Investigator for the Highway Patrol

Martin W. holds the title Counter Terrorism Unit Investigator for the Highway Patrol. He works with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force or JTTF. Martin holds a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice. Martin recently sat down with me to discuss how he got into the position he currently holds and to hopefully give others an idea as to how they might work their way into a counter terrorism position like his.*

What is the JTTF?

It stands for Joint Terrorism Task Force. It's owned and directed by the FBI and is a conglomeration of different agencies including the Highway Patrol, CIA, ATF, Sheriff's Departments, Police Departments and others, just to name a few. The idea is that we are all there to make ready any resource needed. For example, the Highway Patrol might run traffic stops that appear to be standard when really they are orchestrated by the FBI searching for a suspect.

For the Highway Patrol, officers assigned to FBI JTTFs fall under the Homeland Security Division, Anti-Terrorism Unit. There are almost twenty Highway Patrol Anti-Terrorism Unit officers assigned to JTTFs throughout the State and they work both International and Domestic Terrorism related issues.

How did you decide on Criminal Justice as an area of study?

I was a lost soul. I chose to study criminal justice in college because I had to declare a major prior to taking or enrolling in any further courses. I thought it would be cool. My Dad is a cop, I thought the criminal justice classes I had taken up to that point had been interesting, I liked the idea behind the study of criminal justice, and there was not much math involved...I hate math.

Did the criminal justice degree direct you into law enforcement?

As I went down the criminal justice path, I wrestled with it, because I wasn't into the idea of shift work, like graveyard and working on weekends or holidays. I saw my Dad doing all of that during his career as I was growing up. He missed a lot of time with his family and I wasn't sure I wanted that. It was a tough decision for me, to think about committing to law enforcement.

During this time I was also studying Spanish and almost switched my major to Spanish. My academic counselors in the criminal justice department convinced me not to. They told me that a major in Spanish would really limit my career opportunities/breadth of jobs I could get. The said I could basically only be a teacher. At that point I thought it might be cool to be a teacher.

People always told me I was great with people, telling people how to do things, motivating people, and other teacher related qualities. After that, I thought maybe I'd be a teacher with a background in criminal justice.

So, really the degree did not direct me where I was going with my career.

What happened after you graduated from college with the criminal justice degree?

After school my spanish skills still weren't great. You really can't learn a foreign language attending 50 minute classes two days a week in college. I decided to go live in Mexico for a year to immerse myself and get my Spanish to where I wanted it to be. I got it there and started thinking I should go to work for a federal agency. They work Monday through Friday with weekends and holidays off, provided there are no emergencies. So, I really had the goal of joining the FBI at this point.

I knew they hire people with certain skill sets, foreign language being one of them. I thought that my criminal justice degree and spanish could get me in the door for a special agent position. I tested for the FBI and they told me I had no work experience and that I should go out and get that, then come back to reapply. They did tell me that my spanish language skills were excellent and that they could offer me a position in a support role, but I turned it down since it was not in line with my goals.

I ended up applying for the Highway Patrol, thinking this would give me the required work experience I needed for the FBI. Then got cold feet on that and went through the teacher credentialing program for student teaching.

You really were testing the waters before making that dive into law enforcement. What ended up tipping the scales for you?

I got into teaching and hated it. It was the worst decision I had ever made in my life. No pay, the parents are horrible, the kids are horrible. The 5% of the kids that take up your time for discipline and parent teacher conferences is what made me get out of it. It just was not worth it to me. Those 5% of "bad" kids made it so the other "good" kids suffered, because they weren't getting my full attention during class. It was really frustrating.

Education is a tough field and career. What happened then?

I took the test for the Highway Patrol and got in. I also tested for a popular police department in the state and was offered a position as well. I went with the Highway Patrol because there was an opportunity to work all over the state and not be locked into one city for my entire career. At this point, I still had the intention to join a federal agency.

How did you end up being a Highway Patrol Officer assigned to the FBI's JTTF?

This decision may have hindered my future plans, because working patrol for the Highway Patrol was going to give me the work experience I needed to apply to a federal agency, like the FBI. Now though, working with FBI special agents in the FBI building, I am doing the exact work I wanted to be doing if I had joined the FBI, but didn't have to.

Someday the work I am doing will have to end and I will go back to a Highway Patrol type position, like traffic enforcement. Honestly, at the Highway Patrol I make way more money than I would if I took a job with a federal agency at this point. I would take a huge pay cut, because if I went to the FBI, I would be starting all over from scratch. All special agents, no matter if they are lawyers, doctors, accountants, snipers in the Marines in their former careers, they all start at the same place and at the same level in at the FBI Academy.

Martin, thank you so much for your time and the information you provided.

Not a problem.

 

* Names, locations and some details have been changed for confidentiality.

 

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