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 Jill
Winslow (not her real name), 34, looks pretty inconspicuous:
an Asian woman about 5 foot 2 inches, wearing glasses, casually
dressed in jeans and T-shirt, she’s sitting at a café
sipping coffee. You’d never suspect that she is an
FBI agent with a hidden camera in her purse.
Winslow is a language specialist in the Bureau’s Joint
Terrorism Task Force. She joined the FBI six years ago and
speaks four languages; which ones, she can’t reveal.
She is among those fighting terrorism, a major public concern
after Sept. 11. Since the attack, Jill has more work than
ever. The FBI, in joint efforts with 20 other city, state,
and federal agencies, has been working on the PENTTBOM (PENtagon
Twin Towers BOMbings) case. “Ever since September,
it’s been very hectic in the office. We get more urgent
anonymous letters and calls than ever. Once every two weeks,
we arrest illegal immigrants from countries that are hostile
to the U.S. and send them back to their country because
of what happened on Sept. 11,” she says.
 Winslow
spends a lot of time on background checks, interviews, and
surveillance. Her appearance helps when she goes undercover.
“Once there was a terrorist gang that was supposed
to meet in one house in a small village in Asia,” she
reports. “The only problem was that everyone in the
village is close, like family. If the Caucasian FBI guys
show up in a car, the whole village would start shooting
at them. We had to get in the house, arrest the terrorists,
and quickly leave.” That she could blend in with the
villagers worked to her advantage; the job was done in 15
minutes, she claims.
 Winslow
is often exposed to danger of this sort, but she’s
never been shot at in her career as an FBI agent started,
she says, out of curiosity. While working as an assistant
district attorney, she met several agents who urged her
to apply. After a one-year process, which included physical,
academic, and polygraph tests, as well as two interviews,
she was accepted to the FBI academy. There she spent 16
weeks learning tactics, car-chase techniques, how to break
doors, handle all kinds of guns, and act confident enough
to intimidate “bad guys” who are stronger than
she is. “One time I had to arrest a guy who was 6'1",”
Winslow says. “I was undercover at a bus stop and he
was about to get on the bus. I threw him against the bus
stop, flashed my golden badge, and said, ‘You’re
under arrest.’” A small woman like her whacking
a big man against the bus stop? It seems quite unreal, but
with the defense training she received from the academy
and a little confidence, for Jill it is routine.
 Fighting
terrorism demands top technology. In addition to the typical
guns, bulletproof vests, and binoculars, agents also use
tiny video cameras and recording devices. The “James
Bond kind of stuff” is one of the reasons she says
she fell in love with the job. She also realized how much
she could help people.
Winslow says she also loves the flexibility she has. She
can choose to work in the office or outside, interviewing
or surveying. She enjoys meeting people from all over the
world, “and I get paid well!” she laughs. After
five years on the job, the average agent in New York City
makes $90,000 a year.
The job has its drawbacks, of course. Besides exposing her
to danger, it disrupts her personal life. “I hate it
when I’m ready to go to bed or if I’m hanging
out with friends, and I get beeped back into the office,”
Jill says. Yet even with these annoyances, she is not planning
to leave her job any time soon. “I’m committed
to make streets safe in America and protect the American
way of life as long as I have energy to do it.”
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