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Sheila Varvil remembers how the Federal Bureau of Investigation operated when she joined the agency nearly four decades ago.
Agents back then kept only the essentials on their desks: two sharp pencils along with a red, blue and black pen. At the end of the day, all of them went back into the desk drawer. Employees had to clock in and out for lunch or any other break that took them away from work, Varvil said.
"We've come a long way," said Varvil, who now supervises foreign language analysts at the FBI Tampa Division. "It's nice to see pastel colors, women in pants. We're very flexible."
Today, the FBI has more than 30,000 agents battling mobsters, serial killers, white-collar criminals, terrorists and cyber-villains.
As the agency celebrates its centennial this month, local agents will spend time at libraries throughout Tampa Bay telling stories from the past 100 years and giving safety tips and insight into their duties.
The main public event for Tampa Bay area residents will take place today at the Largo Public Library. Information tables about the agency will be set up, and agents and graduates of the FBI Citizens Academy, which allows people from other walks of life to experience FBI training, will be available.
The Tampa division's 27 language analysts consider their role essential to the FBI's mission and to the agents' work. They serve the U.S. Federal Court Middle District, but their work carries them all over the world.
"I believe we linguists consider ourselves to be the spearhead in defending our country against terrorists," said Camille Gorra, a senior language analyst. "We are the people in the trenches. It comes first to us."
In his 10 years working for the agency, Gorra has seen how the FBI is adapting to the changing world, he said.
"We are more focused since after Sept. 11," he said. "The progress is tremendous. We have a new FBI. It's greatly different from the first day I started. It's better."
Linguists like Gorra translate documents and audio that agents use to determine the next step in their investigations.
A linguist might follow an investigation overseas, travel with national dignitaries to serve as translators or be called to a scene to assist an agent with an investigation.
"We are bridging between the two gaps," Gorra said, "the West and other cultures. Our role is essential for our mission to succeed."
Varvil said the role of the linguists is ever changing. There was a time when they worked heavily with information during the Cold War era.
In the 1970s, '80s and '90s, there were more Spanish linguists because of the war on drugs.
Since 9/11, linguists focus more on intelligence, Varvil said.
"Our mission is to support our local intelligence," Varvil said. "We do that for everyone in the world."
The FBI is always looking for new linguists. The only requirement is to be a U.S. citizen. The background process can be daunting and time consuming, Varvil said, but the people who enlist do so because they want to help.
"A lot of people, this is their native language that they are working with," Varvil said. "They just want to help (the United States)."
Kevin Graham can be reached at kgraham@sptimes.com.
[Last modified: Jul 25, 2008 09:31 PM]
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