There are countless career paths and specialty areas one might pursue as a member of the FBI. Whether it’s tracking down interstate fugitives or engaging in active anti-terrorist activities overseas, you can find a worthwhile, rewarding and exciting career in the Bureau in any number of fields.
For those who are interested in communications, logistics, information systems, coordination and profiling, the FBI Investigation and Operations Support (IOSS) paths might be the best bet for you to pursue. Explore how the dedicated men and women who work in Investigation and Operations Support work around the clock to protect you from criminal threats.
What Is Investigation and Operations Support?
Investigation and Operations Support forms a vital role in the Critical Incident Response Group. This division of the FBI stretches across multiple departments and focuses on essential operational duties of the Bureau. Without IOSS, the FBI could not do its job keeping us safe at home and abroad.
The various job departments of IOSS include a wide variety of support duties. These include:
- Communications
- Logistical coordination
- Event monitoring and coordination
- Profiling
- Multi-agency partnering and networking
- Information systems and technology
Investigations and Operations Support Specialties and Units
- FBI Police Officer– FBI agents also require protection. FBI police officers protect our agents as well as play a special role in keeping you and your family safe and secure from criminal threats.
- Rapid Deployment Logistics Unit– Among the multitudes of career paths one might pursue within the FBI, one of the most exciting might be as a member of a rapid deployment logistic unit, or RDLU. These men and women are those who are called upon to act fast in situations which have immediate logistics concerns.
What IOSS Does for the FBI
IOSS is in many ways the backbone of FBI operations. The programs that make up IOSS are essential to the defense of the U.S. and her interests against international and domestic terrorist attacks. These include:
- The Behavioral Analysis Unit, which performs essential criminal profiling duties which helps to stop violent crime by anticipating it. It has three sections, including the counterterrorism and threat assessment unit, the crimes against children unit, and the crimes against adults unit.
- The Special Events Management Unit protects sporting events, conferences, international gatherings and other important functions from threats.
- The Rapid Deployment Logistics Unit allows for the creation of field command points when the Bureau needs to set up a new base of operations in a new area quickly for an operation.
- The National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime, formed in 1984 to pursue crimes like murder, serial rape, terrorism, child offenses, extortion and violence via the use of explosives. It conducts vast research on the nature of violent crime and criminals, its past and present, in an effort to stop offenses before they occur. This center includes not only three Behavioral Analysis Units, but…
- The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, which helps law enforcement agencies at all levels from small town police forces to international agencies to carry out their operations. This is technically another aspect of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, which maintains the single largest violent crime database in the United States, allowing access to over 84,000 case studies, making it a leading agency for coordination of multiple law enforcement agencies who work together on interstate crimes.
- The Communications and Information Technology Unit handles all aspects of cyber crime, cyberterrorism, information technology and communications for the Bureau at home and abroad.
If you are looking for a diverse career at the center of FBI operations, where you will make a difference every day, you might want to look into getting a job in investigations and operations support.