He may not be able to tell you if the X-Files really exist, if there are aliens in Area 51 or who shot JFK, but Trey Halterman (‘96) thinks he has been successful during his two and a half years as an FBI special agent.
“I have arrested drug dealers, protected the U.S. from people who want to cause harm to the country, assisted Hurricane Katrina victims and managed major cases that will lead to arrests and prosecutions,” he said.
Halterman, a UT Martin alumnus, first thought about becoming an FBI agent when he was in college. “I was told the FBI liked to hire accountants and lawyers,” he said. But it wasn’t until he completed stints as a public and corporate accountant that he seriously pursued the idea.
He’s now an FBI special agent in the Washington Field Office and conducts national security investigations. Currently, he is the case agent for two major investigations that require coordination with six other governmental agencies.
“On any given day, I am in direct contact with representatives from these agencies. I have a couple of other investigations going, as well, but my main focus is the two major cases.” He added, “Lately, I am almost in daily contact with the Department of Justice attorney. We are reviewing evidence that has been collected to determine whether federal charges can be brought against the subjects of my investigations. The ultimate goal is an arrest and prosecution. We are getting closer and closer every day.”
The Washington Field Office is the second largest, behind New York, with approximately 750 of the 12,000 total special agents.
Halterman, a Maryville, Tenn., native, graduated in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a major in accounting. While at UT Martin, he was a founding father and original member of the Tennessee Kappa Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He has a master’s degree with a concentration in finance from UT Chattanooga. He is a certified public accountant, who tried public and corporate accounting to gain experience, and then, in late 2002, “I remembered that I once had the ambition to become an FBI agent. I went online and applied.”
A few months later, he was called to a local FBI office for the first testing phase, a written exam. “Somehow, I passed and moved on to the next phase,” he said. “Things got stalled for awhile, but picked back up in May 2004. He completed the second phase–another written exam and a panel interview–in August 2004. “After that, I was subjected to a background check, a medical examination, polygraph examination and a physical-fitness test. The fitness test scores your level of fitness with situps, pushups, 300-meter sprint and a timed 1.5-mile run. All events are done back to back. Each event has a minimum acceptable score, and if you fail any of the four events, you are done.”
Next, he was given a date to report to the Marine Corps Base at Quantico. He reported to the FBI Academy in September 2004 and remained there for 17 weeks. “Throughout my time at the academy, I was put through numerous grueling tests of physical and mental fitness.” Halterman had many sessions of legal, firearms and defensive tactics training.
“I had my head bashed in (boxing), was wrapped up like a pretzel (groundfighting), was pepper sprayed and was shot, at close range, with semunition (soap pellets),” he said. “None of this was very fun.
“On a typical day, of which very few are, I get to the office at 6:15 a.m., and I usually don’t return home until 6 p.m. Most of the time, I only have enough time to eat lunch at my desk so I can continue working. The longest span I have worked without stopping is about 34 hours.”
Halterman said two or three days a week he leaves his desk long enough for a run – to the mall area and then to the Lincoln Memorial and back – about a 4.5-5-mile trek. He also lifts weights a couple of days a week and saves long runs for the weekends.
“Physical fitness is an absolute must in my job,” he said. “We are expected to stay physically fit.” Most of his current work takes place in D.C., but there are some chances to work elsewhere. “My most memorable trip was in 2005, when I volunteered to travel to Louisiana in support of Hurricane Katrina relief,” he said. “My first foreign adventure is planned in the near future.”
When most people think of FBI agents, they imagine men in black with dark sunglasses and guns in shoulder holsters. Halterman confirms that special agents in the FBI Washington Field Office are expected to wear business attire to work every day. “We have a lot of interaction with the public, so we are expected to dress and act professionally,” he said.
“I almost always wear a suit to work, but not all of my suits are black. The bureau has changed since the Hoover days when all special agents were expected to wear a black suit and white shirt. I do wear dark Oakley sunglasses, though, and I always carry a gun (.40 caliber Glock). You never know when you are going to need it.”
Just like other businesses, the FBI has its own vernacular – a jargon that’s used by the professionals. “Bucar” or “Buride” is an FBI vehicle issued to a special agent. “EC” is electronic communication – the report that an agent usually writes when something needs to be documented. “OPR” is Office of Professional Responsibility. Halterman describes this term as “the three letters you never want to hear mentioned after someone says your name. This usually means you have done something wrong when you are told that you are being ‘OPR’ed’.”
Occasionally, Halterman is in the company of famous people, but he can’t name many names. “Last New Year’s Eve, I was in Times Square in New York City. I helped my wife’s brother (he is a New York Police Department officer) escort (singer) Toni Braxton to the stage, where she performed. She is a very pretty and tiny.” Also, he met President Bush while training at the academy. He was there a month before re-election to go for a bike ride.
While Halterman can speak in general terms about his work, “When total strangers ask me what I do, I usually just make something up. I am cordial with them, but sometimes I don’t feel like having ‘that’ conversation with people. They will ask a million questions and won’t leave me alone. Sometimes people don’t believe me when I tell them what I do. When they do finally believe me, most of them tell me that I am the first one they have ever met.” Then come the questions about the X-Files, Area 51 and JFK, he added.
“It is hard to socialize and find things to talk about when I am doing things with people outside of the bureau. There is so much about my job that I can’t talk about,” he said.
Most of his work assignments he cannot discuss with anyone except those who have a “need to know.” “There are a lot of things I can’t even talk about with my wife, Sandy, and she is also a special agent in the New York office. The job is very stressful, and I have been put in dangerous situations. But I love my job, so it is all worth it,” he said. “I always make sure I let my wife and other family members know when I am doing something dangerous, and they are my first phone call once I am out of the dangerous situation.” That includes his mother, Judy Halterman, and stepfather, Bob Gilbert, (UT alumnus and longtime journalist) of Maryville, and father, S.E. Halterman Jr., of Spring, Texas.
“I intend to be a special agent for at least 20 years,” he said. “I will be eligible for retirement at age 50, and the mandatory retirement age is 57. I’m not sure if I will stay until I am 57, though. I’m also not sure what I want to do after my bureau career is over. I am still having fun with what I am doing, so I can’t imagine another career right now.”
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