I can tell you that if you spend enough time on the CIA website (because you need to do a presentation for a criminal justice class), you WILL get a pop-up asking you why you are so interested in their website.
And not just a simple pop-up with one question and radio buttons either.
Seems like that would be under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement. Not sure how it would invoke the Feds.
Really? That’s hilarious! Either they have a sense of humor or they are even more paranoid than I thought.
Actually, right now, the FBI wouldn’t care. They have problems of their own. Anonymous has attacked the FBI web site and it’s down.
I was contacted by the FBI once when I was working in the Wisconsin Ave Radio Shack in Bethesda in the early 80’s. I was a trainee, and the manager was out. The agent asked me if anybody of 'foreign origin" had been buying these wireless $19.95 FM clip on lavalier mikes we sold.
Now you have to understand how terrible these pieces of trash really were. They were about an inch long and half an inch wide. they has a foot long wire antenna and they had a little clip to hook it to your lapel. You tuned them to broadcast on a place on FM radio dial where there were no interfering stations. A neat trick in a dense urban area in the 80’s. They were so bad that when we gave demos of the unit with an FM radio a few feet away they would struggle to say on frequency. “Mr. Microphone” from Toys R Us would have been a step up.
Anyway, we began chatting and I asked him why he would be concerned about the commies using these awful pieces of trash that had a very modest broadcast range. He looked me dead ion the eye and said in the most serious possible tone. “It’s the simplest things which can sometimes trip you up.”
I gave him a free 9 volt battery and a battery card, he showed me his gun, and groused about the quality of the new trainees (ie blacks) the FBI was letting in.
I actually did have a Russian Embassy customer who was always buying electronic component items (no wireless mics though) to fix old radios he bought at yard sales. He liked me and brought me a few Russian outdoor adventure books with titles like “A Story About A Real Man”.
Good times.
OK, I’ll bite.
Why did you do such a thing?
I think it was my research into their organizational structure that did it. It freaked me right out and, yes, I do have a pop-up blocker. I didn’t even try to close the pop-up and just answered all the questions in a slightly hysterical (It’s for a class, I swear!) way.
I actually mentioned it to my professor (former police officer, first woman in her department, former director of the academy, etc.) and she said, “Oh yeah, they’re totally tracking your IP now!” and grinned evilly.
(I loved her though and am taking an investigations class with her this semester.)
To be honest, mostly just for the sake of it. (I was in high school, after all.) Also, I had this vague notion that some day in the future I might need an alternate identity–like if I were to be falsely accused of a serious crime, or something, and had to go on the lam.
(I also wanted to be four years older so I could get into clubs with an unimpeachable, real ID, though I ended up actually using it only two or three times.)
ETA: Also, I was really into espionage (the real kind, not the James Bond stuff). I did other things like putting a wire tap on my family’s phone (broadcast with a walkie talkie under the house), and when our high school took us on a “career day” tour of the local FBI office, I had a concealed tape recorder running on my person.
And once I was actually “interrogated” by an FBI agent when I tried to go through the security gate at the airport with a briefcase handcuffed to my wrist, wearing a disguise. The Harbor Police took me into a back room, and when I wouldn’t admit that it was all a joke, they called in the FBI. The agent had been on a kidnapping case, and he was was really pissed off that he had come in–pissed off at the Harbor Police for calling them at all. Actually, it was just the sergeant anyway who wanted to take the whole thing seriously–all of his officers were laughing up their sleeves.
That obviously was long before 9-11.
Transport a minor the next state over, even with consent, and do naughty things.
Bonus points if you do use a gun.
Additional helpful hints:
– Hand teller demand note written on back side of your drivers license.
– Do this somewhere outside your home state, so there are inter-state issues involved.
The F in FDIC stands for Federal. Having been the victim in several bank holdups, I can vouch that the FBI shows up.
As mentioned previously, bank robbery is already a federal crime. As for getting caught, it’s not that difficult. You just need to be as dumb as a criminal. My favorite story was the guy who used a taxi as a getaway car. Police tracked him down in about 15 minutes.
Indeed, the FBI is very sensitize about explosives. Much more so than guns & ammo.
I had a friend with a phD in math with family in Yemen and Pakistan.
Every. Single. Time he went home he had to sit through hours of questioning. Eventually, he called ahead to the airport to let them know he was coming.
A friend of mine ordered large quantities of 5 chemicals to make powerful explosives online.
Nothing.
Rob a bank. Cross a state line. Repeat as necessary.
Wow. Stories, please, if you’re willing?