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work in a wide variety of fields, everything from computer crimes to financial crime and from bank robbery to finding criminals on the run. Most of the crimes that the FBI handles are those that cross state lines. This helps to avoid confusion between neighboring states. When a crime goes national, the FBI is set up to handle the job. Five Areas of Expertise To get started, the FBI requires that each new spe- cial agent qualify for work under one of its key areas of responsibility. Those include accounting, computer science and information technology, language, and law. Each one of these programs includes “critical skills” needed to excel as an FBI Special Agent. That means that anyone looking to work for the FBI already has to have some back- ground in one of those areas. Applicants must have completed a four-year degree from a college or university and held an office job for at least three years. For example, you don’t move into the FBI after working in a restaurant or selling auto sup-

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