Gary Noesner wanted to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation since he was just 12 years old.
That dream came true in 1972, a few days after he turned 22.
For the next three decades, Noesner was heavily involved in numerous hostage, barricade, and suicide incidents; more than 120 overseas kidnapping cases involving American citizens; and prison riots, right-wing militia standoffs, religious zealot sieges, terrorist embassy takeovers, and airplane hijackings.
He retired from the FBI in 2003 as the chief of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit and has since been hired as a senior vice president at Control Risks, an international risk consultancy, and authored "Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator."
We recently spoke to Noesner, 65, who told us what it was really like to work for the FBI. He says it's important to note that every employee's experience is completely different, but he was open to sharing his own with Business Insider.
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The hiring process
Noesner, who majored in sociology, minored in history, and graduated with a teaching certificate from a small school in Florida, always dreamed of working for the FBI – so he decided to go for it after college.
The first step involved completing a formal application. Next, the FBI did a background investigation, and then he had to pass a physical fitness test. "There was also a knowledge test, and then an interview," Noesner explains.
"It's probably true of all government agencies — and the FBI is no different — but I do remember the hiring process being painfully slow because an investigation had to be conducted. They go around and interview your family and friends and your neighbors to try to get a pretty clear picture of the person you are and make sure you don't have any alcohol or drug abuse problems, criminal behavior problems, or mental health problems.
"Sometimes the FBI actually loses very viable candidates because they decide to move on because they're tired of waiting to hear if they're going to get this job."
Noesner landed a job with the FBI in 1972. He first worked as a support employee, then a special agent, and finally as a hostage negotiator.
The best part of the job
"The best part about working for the FBI was being involved in the hostage negotiation program," he says.
"I like the idea of using communication skills to diffuse dangerous situations. In 1980 I finally had seniority as an agent to secure a slot in the training school. It fit my personality, and I did well in that capacity. After doing it part-time for 10 years while I was also working terrorism investigations of overseas hijackings, I was asked in 1990 to become a full-time hostage negotiator.
"We conducted operations — so if there were a hijacking or right-wing standoff, we would physically go and be in charge of all the negotiations. We also did research on the effects of sleep deprivation, behavior, and mental illness."
Noesner says the job also offered him to opportunity to travel around the world teaching negotiations to other law enforcement agencies.
"I would have to say that experience of being a negotiator and traveling not only throughout the US but to 50 or 60 countries teaching negotiations, obviously that was the most memorable and rewarding part of my career, and I had an opportunity to be in an influential position as this field emerged."
The worst part of the job
"Worst part of the job was that I was gone a lot — I traveled 25% to 30% of the time — so my family kind of went on without me," he explains. "I was a good father, I think. I tried to coach my kids' sports team and all that, but the reality was, I missed a lot of stuff."
And he would sometimes have to work on weekends, he says. "Bank robbers have this interesting thing where they tend to rob banks on a Friday afternoon. When I was an agent, I'd be looking ahead to a nice weekend and then all of sudden at 4 o'clock somebody robs a bank and that's it — I can't go home for dinner with my family or that concert with my wife. That happened all the time. My wife didn't mind when I said, 'I'm leaving Monday and I'm going to be in Germany for two weeks.' No problem. But when I'd call and say, 'I'm sorry I can't pick up the kids tonight,' she wasn't happy."
Noesner points out that the FBI has this "wonderful saying" that family comes first, "but it's just not true. It's totally bogus."
He says none of his three kids ever had a desire to work for the FBI, "probably because they saw the toll it takes on family life.
"I think they're all very proud of me, but none of them chose that path — and I fully support their decisions to go in other directions."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider