# Who would employ this character?



## SarahStrange (Apr 14, 2014)

My character is an agent. Of what I'm unsure. She is tasked with bringing in and questioning a man who is suspected of creating a highly infectious disease that has been released to the world.

Would she be an agent of the CDC? FBI? (I suppose it could be seen as a weapon of mass destruction, which is one of the things that the FBI deal with.) Or some other agency I am unaware of?

I've done _a lot _of research, and all it's done so far is confuse me. If anyone has an opinion or knows more than me, feel free to chime in!


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## Cran (Apr 14, 2014)

Q - what nationality, and which country or countries are involved in the suspect nab?

If it's part of a situation that's been going on for a while, the operation could well be assigned to a multi-service task force, which means that your field agent could be FBI, NSA, CIA, FDA; I would think CDC less likely unless accompanied and if there is reason to suspect the bioweapon is on site. If it's international, then you have a whole alphanumeric salad to play with, including something attached to the UN, NATO, or the EU.


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## SarahStrange (Apr 14, 2014)

They are in the U.S.. However, the man is British. I haven't decided from where yet. It turns out that she is intercepting him in an airport as he takes a connecting flight somewhere in the U.S. (haven't decided that either) from England to Maine.  

The situation is very new. In that it has only been brought to anyone's attention in the last few days. I was hoping since it is a newer event, then there may be less "alphanumerical soup" going on. At this moment, I'm heavily leaning towards FBI primarily, and adding others to the situation as the days and the disease progress.


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## Bard_Daniel (Apr 15, 2014)

Interpol? With collaborative references?


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## Cran (Apr 15, 2014)

SarahStrange said:


> They are in the U.S.. However, the man is British. I haven't decided from where yet. It turns out that she is intercepting him in an airport as he takes a connecting flight somewhere in the U.S. (haven't decided that either) from England to Maine.
> 
> The situation is very new. In that it has only been brought to anyone's attention in the last few days. I was hoping since it is a newer event, then there may be less "alphanumerical soup" going on. At this moment, I'm heavily leaning towards FBI primarily, and adding others to the situation as the days and the disease progress.


OK - you still have options, mostly depending on how the tip-off happened/who it went to. To FBI and NSA, you could add Customs and DEA; CIA, MI6 or Interpol much less likely as the primary operative on US soil, but could have passed on information. And to make life really interesting, your agent could be a "secondment" or second-career - ie, ex-military intelligence bioweapons specialist joined CDC, FBI or NSA; or a field-trained CDC operative on secondment to FBI or NSA or Customs, etc.


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## SarahStrange (Apr 15, 2014)

Thank you so much! That really helped and gave me some new and interesting ideas on how to make it just that more complicated and interesting :unconscious:


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## Morkonan (Apr 19, 2014)

SarahStrange said:


> My character is an agent. Of what I'm unsure. She is tasked with bringing in and questioning a man who is suspected of creating a highly infectious disease that has been released to the world.
> 
> Would she be an agent of the CDC? FBI? (I suppose it could be seen as a weapon of mass destruction, which is one of the things that the FBI deal with.) Or some other agency I am unaware of?
> 
> I've done _a lot _of research, and all it's done so far is confuse me. If anyone has an opinion or knows more than me, feel free to chime in!



If he is inside the United States, it would primarily be an FBI operation, with cooperation with other agencies. If he is "at large" in a foreign country, it would probably be the CIA who would act in concert with the FBI to apprehend the individual and then turn them over to FBI agents that have been assigned to the region as part of a cooperative law enforcement treaty. (IOW - The FBI does work with foreign governments in certain cases, but only through cooperative law-enforcement treaties. Otherwise, it's the CIA. Also - Don't forget the possible contributions of other agencies that fall under the umbrella of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Community )

The CDC is not a law-enforcement agency. However, a CDC official may act as a consultant with the FBI or CIA in the pursuit of such a subject. But, CDC officials are not "armed", ever, that I know of. However, the CDC could operate in concert with local or federal law-enforcement and even the military. (Though, the military has its own specialized NBC specialists and research arms.)

It sounds as if you would benefit from reading the following book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone It's outstanding and has some nice bits with cooperation amongst various agencies that you might be able to use for inspiration. It's fairly short, but it's a page-turner, definitely readable in an afternoon. (Great book!)


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