12 Undercover FBI Facts You Didn't Know

The Freedom of Information Act lets us know that from 1940 to 1966...Walt Disney was an FBI informant.Walt Disney was a secret FBI informant. As a Bureau contact, Disney reported on Hollywood actors, writers, producers, directors, technicians, and union activists suspected of Communism.

J. Edgar Hoover, the Bureau Director, let Disney film at FBI headquarters in Washington for this information. Disney even let Hoover see some Disney scripts. That is a small world.

How do you catch a terrorist? Apparently, you track the Middle Eastern food falafel.

In 2005 and 2006, the FBI checked grocery store data in San Francisco and San Jose looking for clues pointing to Iranian terrorists. According toWIRED.The idea was a spike in falafel sales, plus other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents.

The program, called "Total Falafel Awareness," ended fast. Michael A. Mason, head of the FBI's criminal investigations unit, stopped it because the action seemed illegal.

Because of their work and the high intelligence of the FBI, the Bureau should have gone digital early. But it did not happen untilThe FBI did not go digital until 2012.Until then, they kept paper files for tracking cases.

The Bureau planned a $425 million electronic system in 2009, but they hit problems with the computer coding. The switch to digital only occurred in August 2012 when the law enforcement agency started using the new machines. This delay cost them two and a half years and $26 million over budget. It was not a big issue.

Millions watched the 1946 movie in front of the fireplace during the holiday season.The Bureau hated "It's a Wonderful Life".The holiday classic got five Oscar nominations, one for best picture. In 1990, the Library of CongressIt was inducted.the film into the National Film Registry. Most people enjoyed the film.

The FBI hated "It's a Wonderful Life".The Bureau did not hate it much..

In a memo to "The Director," FBI chief J.Edgar Hoover's assistant D.M. Ladd wrote that "the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a 'scrooge-type' so that he would be the most hated man in the picture." The memo stated this kind of veiled anti-capitalist portrayal is a "common trick used by Communists to malign the upper class."

Season's greetings!

While murderers and terrorists walk the streets, the lyrics to a song are probably not top priority for the FBI investigation.

That happened in 1965 when the FBIThey investigated a song.They investigated the song.They investigated Louie Louie.The Kingsmen got complaints that the song's lyrics had secret pornographic verses. After hundreds of audio tests, a 120-page report found the lyrics were not indecent. It was just a catchy tune.

The FBI file list includes more than just hardened criminals. You might have one yourself.The Vault.It holds an FBI reading room with over 6,700 documents. These documents detail investigations into everyone, from Marilyn Monroe and Dick Clark to Tupac and Steve Jobs.

Most people these files track seem 'non-threatening.' The FBI monitors them for supposed links to the communist party. Request the files using the Freedom of Information Act if you want to know if the FBI has information on you.The Freedom of Information Act.

Sacha Baron Cohen, creator and star ofBorat.A farcical movie shows a reporter from Kazakhstan claiming the FBI tailed him during filming. This happened during a scene where he drove an ice cream truck and pranked strangers.

The actor said, “The FBI got so many complaints there was a terrorist traveling in an ice cream van.”said.“The FBI got so many complaints they started compiling a file on us and eventually visited us at the hotel. I went missing when I heard because the film crew said, ‘FBI’s downstairs. Sacha, disappear.’”

Do not use a joint on your FBI application yet. Doing recreational drugs in the past is not a total disqualifier, but there is a time limit.

Candidates are automatically subject to tests.are disqualifiedif they smoked pot in the last three years or used another illegal drug in the last ten years. Besides drug tests, potential Agents must pass severaltests.If you are between 23 and 37, you need 20/20 vision and must pass a series of physical tests. These include a timed 300-meter sprint and pushups.

What gets that application to the top of the pile?

If you have training in any of the 12 "critical skills," such as accounting, finance, or law.

The Most Wanted list is a list nobody wants to be on. J. Edgar Hoover created it in 1950. The FBI's Most Wanted identifies people wanted for kidnapping, murder, theft, and other crimes. How do criminals make this list?

According to the FBI.FBI.Criminal Investigative Division (CID) at FBI Headquarters calls on all 56 Field Offices to send candidates for the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list.Special Agents in the CID and the Office of Public Affairs review the nominees for the “proposed” candidate(s). FBI Executive Management then gives final approval.

But according to theThe New York Times.The reporter.Michael S. Schmidt.says the bureau tries to pick dangerous fugitives who...the public could recognize because they have distinct physical features, like a scar, multiple tattoos, or a strangely shaped face.

Fingerprints are not the only thing the FBI keeps on file. The Bureau holds over 5,000 samples of human and animal hair. According toCary T. Oien.The Unit Chief of the Trace Evidence Unit at the FBI Laboratory states that hair evidence is one of the most common types of evidence found in criminal investigations.

Investigators compare hair from a crime scene to the hair catalog on file. This lets them find the ethnicity and body part, and they rarely make a mistake.

We are not discussing paper mache or crafts.Forensic Document Examiners.These examiners hold a major job. They reconstruct shredded documents from investigations.

This is just one part of their specialized role. Some examine burned or soaked documents. Others decode tire treads and shoe prints. Some are handwriting experts working on contested wills, sports memorabilia fraud, and suicide notes.

Everyone's fingerprints are unique. You likely had yours taken for a background check or a driver's license. But the FBI never forgets, just like the Internet.

Your fingerprints most likely reside in the FBI'sIntegrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.This system, called IAFIS, contains over 100 million fingerprints. It sits in a large "data campus" in Clarksburg, West Virginia, about 250 miles west of the main FBI headquarters in Washington, DC.

With so many fingerprints, finding a match seems like it takes forever. However, the system matches a set in about 12 minutes—about the time needed to make a frozen pizza.