Qualifications

Qualifications

There are several qualifications that an aspiring agent must meet before applying. Applicants have to be between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-six, be U.S. residents, and have a valid driver's license. They must complete the ATF agent questionnaire, pass the ATF Special Agent Exam, pass the ATF Special Agent applicant assessment test, pass an ATF-Pre-employment Physical Task Test, and complete a field panel review. 

Additionally, applicants must be able to pass a drug and background test. That's a lot of stuff to pass. Just be sure you don't pass anything else. People are trying to work there.

Once an agent's been hired, they're placed into the ATF's two-part training program. The first part is called the Criminal Investigators Training Program (CITP). In CITP, they'll learn the methodologies, techniques, and concepts of conducting a criminal investigation. 

Some of what is covered includes handcuffing, driving techniques, operation of firearms, photography, crime scene management, surveillance, and federal court procedures. All of that takes about twelve weeks to complete. Tell the gang at Netflix you'll see them in the spring.

The second part of training is more intense. Agents learn alcohol/tobacco diversion investigations, undercover techniques, physical conditioning, field operations, ammunition identification, interviewing techniques, and close quarter countermeasures.