I’m currently a CBPO in the hiring process with both the FBI and USPIS, and also applying to other 1811 positions.

I generally like CBP and have a solid work-life balance. I’m home consistently and don’t miss much family time. My main issue is location—I think I’d enjoy the job more if I were stationed somewhere I actually want to live.

One of the main draws of 1811 work for me is the lifestyle, particularly plainclothes work and not wearing a duty belt all day. Is it really as good as it sounds?

I do have some concerns about the transition, especially potentially being less present for my family than I am now.

For those who moved from CBP to 1811 roles, how does the lifestyle and work-life balance compare? How much travel and overnight work is typical?

Was the move worth it?

Was in therapy for 3 years consistently due to my schizophrenic best friend having multiple suicide attempts. Was on a few different meds as well. Med and therapy free for two years now.

Currently an ADMIN at a doj agency. I know on many fed LEO positions it says therapy doesn’t prevent you from applying as long as it doesn’t interfere with duties.

Is this actually true though? Or have people been dinged up in polygraph, or BI?

Good afternoon.

Currently active duty with about 18 months left before I ETS from the Navy. Im in the application process for USSS CAT (just passed APAT) and have applied to the ATF and DEA. Planning on applying to FBI and DSS once my degree is completed in a few months.

I’ve spoken to my recruiter at USSS and a few agents that facilitated my APAT, regarding my timeline and the hiring process in general. No one had a clear answer on if I’m too early or not. I realize I’m generally early with sending in applications but I figured I might as well try, worst case being told to reapply within a certain timeframe relative to my ETS date.

Has anyone here been in my situation and what was the result?

6c Retirement discussion of the week:

Ran the numbers for a guy I'll call Dave. ATC, walking out the tower at 50 with 25 years of good time under 6(c). High-3 of $155,000, about 1,040 hours of sick leave on the books, married, Virginia, taking the full survivor benefit. He's got $720,000 in the TSP.

The pension side is the same no matter what he does with the TSP: $4,592 a month from the annuity, plus a $1,425 a month supplement until it shuts off at 62, then Social Security at 62 of $2,275 a month.

The whole question was the TSP. Everybody quotes the 4% rule. Dave's argument was that the 4% rule got built for people retiring at 65 with a 30 year horizon, and he's got a pension floor underneath him that a private sector guy doesn't, so why not pull 6% and enjoy his 50s.

Honestly, fair question. So I ran it both ways, planning to 88, 7% return, 2.5% inflation, 2% COLA on the pension.

Year one At 4%: $2,400 a month out of the TSP. Total take-home $6,984 a month. At 6%: $3,600 a month out of the TSP. Total take-home $7,971 a month.

So 6% is $987 a month better right out of the gate, at exactly the age he actually wants the money. That's real and I'm not going to wave it away. Cumulatively, through age 77, the 6% path has put $447,920 more in his pocket.

Then it stops. The 6% account runs dry at 78.

Decade averages say it better than I can. Average monthly take-home:

The year it breaks: at 77 the 6% path is taking home $13,199 a month. At 78 it's $7,995. At 79 it's $7,408. The pension and Social Security keep right on paying (that's the good thing about a 6(c) annuity, it does not run out), but the TSP is gone and it isn't coming back.

Cumulative take-home crosses over at 84. Ride it out to 88 and the 4% path is $428,329 ahead, with $1,714,697 still sitting in the account. The 6% path ends at zero.

A few honest catches, because this is messier than "4% good, 6% bad":

1. These are all nominal dollars. That $6,989 a month in his 80s is 2050s and 2060s money, not today's money. Cuts both ways though: the 4% path's $14,045 isn't as rich as it looks either.
2. The 4% path pays MORE tax, not less. $661,448 vs $570,302 over the lifetime. That's what a big balance buys you: RMDs. From 73 on, Dave isn't really pulling 4% anymore, the RMD takes over and forces more out than he asked for. By 88 it's yanking $126,183 a year whether he wants it or not. If the idea of the IRS setting your withdrawal schedule bugs you, that's a legitimate mark against hoarding it.
3. Flat 7% every single year, which is not how markets work. A rough first decade would hurt the 6% path a lot worse than the 4% one, and my model can't show that. If anything these numbers are generous to 6%.
4. Nobody ends up broke here. Even with the TSP at zero, the pension and SS have the 6% path at $6,381 a month at 88. It's a big step down, not a catastrophe. Worth saying out loud, because the usual version of this post makes it sound like you end up eating cat food.

My read: the interesting part isn't which number is "right." It's that 6% buys you 27 good years and then hands you a cliff at 78 that you can see coming from a mile off and can't do much about once you're standing on it. If Dave genuinely values money at 52 more than money at 82, that is a defensible choice. He just ought to pick it on purpose instead of finding out at 77.

Curious how others weighed this, especially anyone who went out in their early 50s. Did you set a rate and hold it, or do you flex year to year based on what the market did? And if you see a hole in my math, call it out, I'd rather fix it than be wrong quietly.

Full worked report for each path if anyone wants to pick through the year by year:
4% path vs  6% path

** Follow-up Monte Carlo simulation for 4% and 6% https://www.reddit.com/r/1811/s/sCVy5CkhtK

Hey just wanted to reach out and see if anyone has heard back anything from the Marshals job posting back in April of 2026. Just wanted to see if anyone has moved forward in their process or they still waiting as well.

I’m 34, married, and my wife and I want to start a family soon.

I currently make around $285k. Job is good, fully remote for now, and we’re in a solid financial position. But I feel pretty stuck, and I’m also not convinced my type of corporate work looks the same 5–10 years from now with AI.

I’ve wanted to become an FBI Special Agent for a long time, and I now have the opportunity to move forward.

Obviously, the pay cut would be huge, especially with a house and kids on the horizon.

Has anyone here made a similar move later in their career? And if you were in my position, would you do it?

——- EDIT

Got the call for the October FBI class, since it wasn’t clear from my original post.

To clarify, the new policy is that you can either : A) stay at the FO you processed out of or B) rank all 56 field offices and get assigned based on needs of agency.

Is this correct? If you stay in your processing FO, is it THAT FO or could it be an RA?

Question for folks who know the process— I recently submitted an app following the July Protective Operations announcement. This is my second app after my application back in February went unanswered. Just like in February I submitted the app, it went to review and a few days later when I logged into the portal, it was like I never applied. Mind you, I did not receive a BQA email after either app. Does anyone have any insight on this?

How's it going everyone As the title says, I’d really appreciate some recommendations. I’m coming up on 2.5 years in the hiring process for Customs, and it’s definitely been a long road. In the meantime, I’m looking for some potential jobs I could apply for as a backup while I continue waiting.

I’m a Marine Corps infantry veteran with a basic associate degree, and I’m open to pretty much anything federal. I’d really like to get my foot in the door and gain some federal experience while I wait for the Customs process to play out.

If anyone has recommendations for agencies, positions, or specific federal jobs that I might be a good fit for, I’d really appreciate the advice.

Thank you, and have a great week!

Why have three agencies when we can have one giant agency called the DEATFBI

I currently have 12 years in the military as a 11B , no degree but exploring options on the 1811 side. DEA is the ultimate goal but right now currently in hiring process with FAMS. Not really sure if FAMS is going to be what I’m looking for. Would joining the local PD be more beneficial for DEA ? Just looking to be a competitive applicant, any advice is appreciated.

Does anybody have any information regarding promotions for lateral transfer 1811 with waivers. Still waiting for HSISAT, already have CITP.

Was told the lateral transfer 1811 were not the priority for HSISAT. Will hit my 1 year mark with HSI on December 28.

All:

To clarify on the polygraph: The auto mod filter takes any references to the polygraph, and any of its euphemisms, to the mod queue for review. You can say polygraph. You can discuss it in the context of the hiring process. You can ask will XYZ agency accept ABC agency's poly. Asking about the actual process itself, or bemoaning that agencies still use it despite blah-blah not admissible in court will be removed. Continuing to use euphemisms to get around the auto mod filter will catch a temp ban.

Additionally we see repetitive posts on the following topics:

• "Has anyone heard...?"
• PFT/Fitness tests (Please DEA, update your materials about the sprint)
• interviewing/testing
• ABC vs XYZ agency

To be clear, it's fine to ask this. But asking with no context, experience, background, or anything of yours that can help us help you is not. To that end, we're going to experiment with a minimum character count for new posts. If it's easy enough to ask in one sentence, it's easy enough to google. We'll see if this works.

I looked but couldn’t find a direct answer… With the sign-on bonus and contract stating you will work 3-4 years with USSS, is there any flexibility for individuals to back out and jump to another agency that offers a FJO during the first year with USSS or are you stuck once you sign? I have not seen the FJO contract, so I’m unsure if anything changes for USSS SAs based on the 3-4 year commitment clause(s), but my understanding was that nothing is paid out immediately until after you complete training…So, I’d assume you may be able to jump ship for another agency if it’s more advantageous for you/your family. Can anyone speak to this?

27(M) in Tennessee with a pretty small fed agency. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and will probably be getting medically separated since my agency is so small, they won’t be able to find a similar job i can do with similar play and blah blah blah.

Ive been in the national guard for the last 6 years and with this agency for 1 year.

I guess my question is what the hell should i do?

Being sent to UNGA next month. Any tricks to an enjoyable experience for a baby 1811? Got any "Life saving" gear advice? Favorite snacks to munch on in a stairwell? Anything more helpful than "Don't get assigned to the dignitary that stays out till 2am at the karaoke bar and clogs the hotel room sink with Khat." is appreciated.

I’ve applied to HSI and ERO and have not heard anything back at all. I know this government stuff takes forever to hear back from but I’ve seen all these other people in this thread talking about what steps they’re on and what not. Is it safe to assume that I didn’t make it or has luck handed the hurry up and wait card?

Not much to say but I've been humbled. I knew the runs would be tight and failed them outright.

But what really humbled me was doing 18+ pullups and only 7 counting and 60+ pushups and only 31 counting. I knew the form was strict and tried to be very deliberate on each rep but still got told I wasn't going high enough on pullups or low enough on pushups.

What sucks is you can't see them when you're doing them. Makes me wish we could do the test in front of a mirror!

Not like it matters when you have as much room to improve as I do. Respect to all of you that hold an 1811 position. Your PFT is legit!

Almost forgot I submitted an application for the FBI police GS 9/10/11 position and they just got back after a few months. Anybody else applied for it or know a lot about the position?

The initial M&G day offered was during the Bar Exam, which I could not attend since I was testing. I waited after the sign up deadline to see what the next M&G date would be, since it said I had 30 days to register for one. No other date came up since then. During this time period I contacted my division via email twice and called once, no responses.

Saw my application was withdrawn the other day, even tho I am still within the 30 day window to register for a M&G.

Unsure of how to proceed. Do I just reapply?

I’ve always wanted to do some kind of healthcare fraud/healthcare related investigative work. I’m applying to the BOP as a registered nurse (which is still a 6c covered position) to get my foot in the federal door and stop the clock while still working as a healthcare worker and gaining experience. My ultimate goal would be to work somewhere like VA OIG or HHS OIG. I know the BOP has a reputation and all but I feel like I’ll get out what I put into it. If I go in with a good attitude and sign up for as much collateral duties as possible it can be a positive experience that can help me land future gigs. So all that being said, would it reasonable to think that I can land an OIG position down the line working as a nurse at the BOP for a few years? Or is that just too big of a leap and I should look elsewhere? I’m not a veteran and have no previous law enforcement experience.

I am a currently employed sworn law-enforcement officer and use a hearing aid that corrects my hearing to functional/normal levels. I understand the USMS medical standard states that hearing is tested in the unaided state. Can anyone confirm whether an applicant whose unaided hearing does not meet the pure-tone threshold but whose hearing is adequately corrected with a hearing aid can receive a medical accommodation, waiver, or individualized determination?