Five years ago, Bob Hoelscher stepped up to a microphone at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., and, in a time-honored graduation ritual, opened an envelope with a slip of paper that identified his first assignment.
San Francisco, it read.
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The FBI's Least Wanted
The high cost of living is driving agents from some of the largest, most important cities. A few who stayed have gone on food stamps.
COLUMN ONE
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An attorney with a wife and infant son, Hoelscher had heard stories about the cost of living in the Bay Area. "But how bad can it be?" he thought.
After driving cross-country, he found out.
With a starting salary of $50,000, Hoelscher, then 33, was priced out of housing anywhere near his new job. After months of searching, he found a $250,000 house in Fairfield -- 58 miles from San Francisco. His commute takes 75 minutes each way, if the weather is good.
"I actually live in the Sacramento division," Hoelscher said. "There are tons of us who do the same thing each day."
While the FBI plays a lead role in the war on terrorism, many agents say they are waging a private battle against financial hardship. An outdated pay structure has left many agents struggling to make ends meet, especially in high-cost cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
Some agents endure lengthy commutes. Others have gone deep into debt. A few have gone on food stamps or moved into government housing.
FBI veterans say the impact on the bureau's crime-fighting prowess is subtle, but unmistakable. Scores of younger agents are resigning for better-paying jobs in the private sector. Experienced agents want out of big cities. Top-level vacancies in specialties ranging from white-collar crime to counterterrorism go begging for applicants.
The financial squeeze, agents say, is greatest in the very urban centers where the need for top investigative talent is most urgent.
"It is the elephant in the living room that no one wants to talk about," said Nancy Savage, a Portland, Ore., agent who is president of the FBI Agents Assn. "It is killing us in terms of getting people to want to work and stay in these high-cost cities. And these are critical places for us to work."
A House subcommittee will hold a hearing today on legislation to boost salaries for thousands of federal law enforcement personnel working in the nation's most expensive cities for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies.
"It's a major issue, not only in terms of quality of life and morale for the agents, but in terms of recruiting and keeping the most competent agents in these big cities," said former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh.
