Joseph Persichini AP

The program, in its second year, is the only one of its kind in the federal government that grants such access to students, some as young as 16, for paid research and clerical positions, said Joseph Persichini, the assistant director of the FBI who also developed the program for inner-city teens.

A top-secret clearance provides access to guarded government information.

It is the same clearance level granted to select state and local police officials for their increased dealings with the bureau in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In recent years, some of that information has fallen out of the bureau's control in the form of lost laptops or because of the actions of the bureau's own agents.

The 2001 arrest of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who supplied secret information to Russia for 15 years, marked perhaps the most serious security breach in U.S. history.

Persichini said the bureau "wouldn't involve them in overly sensitive issues."

He said all of the recruits, ages 16 to 21, are required to pass personal background and polygraph examinations before they are admitted.

"Our goal is to start a pipeline," the assistant director said, referring to an early recruitment process that would ensure a steady stream of qualified future applicants from varied backgrounds.

"Some don't make it," Persichini said of the background checks. "We still ask the drug (use) question.

"What we're providing here is a glimpse of an opportunity. But you have to show some confidence (in the students) or that opportunity will fade away."

This year, the FBI is expected to hire nearly 300 agents for the bureau and about 900 support staffers. In 2008, the bureau will attempt to add 800 agents and 1,000 staffers.

University of Toledo law professor David Harris, who analyzes law enforcement ethics, questioned whether the investment of such responsibility in very young candidates is worth the risk.

"I'm all for reaching out and getting kids interested in law enforcement at a young age," Harris said. "But some kids that age can exhibit terrible judgment."

Criminal Justice Policy Foundation President Eric Sterling acknowledged that while there may be some risk in providing such access, it was perhaps "more valuable for them to be entrusted with the responsibility."

"It's laudable that the FBI is reaching out to unusual kinds of constituencies," said Sterling, whose organization analyzes drug policy and various other criminal justice issues.

"In terms of the risk involved, it's no greater when you use an unusual applicant pool," Sterling said. "We have young people serving in sensitive assignments in the military."

Half of the students, whose $8-per-hour salaries are being paid by the District of Columbia, will be assigned to the bureau's Washington field office and the others to FBI headquarters across town, said FBI spokesman Debbie Weierman.

All of them will be detailed to units involved in a range of investigations, from bank robbery to public corruption cases, where they will assist with research, data entry, filing and other tasks.

"This is our chance to provide opportunity to the youth of our city," Persichini said.

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Comments: (3)

Bubba2 wrote: 12d ago

Hey, they'll need someone else to blame something on in the futrue....Right now they are running out of scapegoats, so time to train some more.

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Captain Hook wrote: 13d ago

You've got to be kidding me. How stupid and inept can our government be!!!

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geral wrote: 13d ago

these teens are prospective TRAITORS.
The intelligence (intel) agencies of the United States represent the heart beat of America; every aspect of American life is affected by intel operation: the economy, politics, public policy. Even the power to wage war is directly affected by cia operations in targeted nations.
When the intel services , such as the fbi and the cia, engage in widespread covert criminal operations (i.e.: conduct strictly proscribed and unconstitutional under our laws and the laws of nations) the government in all branches is tainted. Failure to demand accountability is often the result of a corrupt Congress of the United States; the courts are also complicit in the illegal activities of intel groups as I and others have shown in many cases.
At last the people must also share the responsibility for its homicidal intel groups because some members (and sectors) of the general public benefit from the immoral and criminal intel activities.
Now, here's the rub: when the intel mob is out of control (which is presently the case) its agents, operatives, thugs and assassins are free to engage in widespread criminal actions and is free to violate the United States Constitution with total impunity. They have become in effect traitors, but few among the population will label them as such for fear of reprisal. The intel mobsters are indeed an organized crime syndicate, destroying any individual at will and with no recourse. The traitors whom I refer to are primarily associated with the fbi and the cia; they are largely responsible for the current collapse of our constitutional government.

"The traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation...he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. "
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator, statesman 42 B.C.

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