From stopping a terrorist attack before it happens to busting corrupt public officials, the FBI handles the country’s biggest criminal investigations.
Its work is often done in secret.
But every year, a group of about 40 citizens are invited to participate in a Citizens’ Academy where agents talk about some of their biggest cases and offer unique insight into how they do their work.
It meets one night a week over two months at the FBI’s Dallas headquarters.
"I would say it's very much an eye opener,” said Glen Pirtle, manager of Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine and a member of the most recent class.
Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Costanzi helps run the program.
"It's an exposure of the FBI that gives the opportunity to the public to get an inside look at what we do,” Costanzi said.
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In one exercise, Pirtle and his fellow citizens were put through a made-up but realistic kidnapping scenario – where they played the agents.
Real-life agents helped supervise as they tried to rescue the victim and arrest the kidnappers.
They learned how the FBI searches a car and dusts it for fingerprints.
They saw how explosives experts can disable a bomb.
And they were briefed on closed cases – and how agents investigated them.
Among them: Hosam Smadi, the Jordanian man convicted of plotting to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper in 2009.
FBI undercover agents were there every step of the way -- right up to when he thought he was detonating a bomb -- and got arrested instead.
"It didn't go so well for him and he's serving 24 years in prison,” Costanzi said.
More recently, there was the case of the Texas actress Shannon Richardson, who was convicted of producing ricin and mailing it to President Obama.
She's now serving an 18-year sentence.
"You can go your whole life never meeting or being involved with the FBI,” Costanzi said. “This gives us an opportunity to let people see that we are the front line for them, we are out there protecting their interest."
Pirtle says it's a world he never knew existed until the citizens’ academy.
"Every day those guys are on the line and it doesn't stop day or night,” he said.
