Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: During Women’s History Month, the FBI appreciates the many contributions and achievements of women in the Bureau and in all government.

The year’s theme—Visionary Women: Champions of Peace and Nonviolence—honors women who have led efforts to end injustice, violence, and war.

The women of the FBI strive to do exactly that in their work.

Paul Abbate: They serve as special agents, intelligence analysts, and professional staff. They serve among our highest-ranking executives and on the front lines in keeping our country safe.

Halpern: That was Associate Deputy Director Paul Abbate, who says the number of women serving in the FBI has grown since the first female agent, Alaska Davidson, joined in 1922.

Currently, about 36,000 people serve in the FBI, and more than 16,000 of them are women.

Abbate: We must continue to recruit, to train, to promote, and to develop women—and all people—in the FBI. It is essential to the organization and to the mission that we are dedicated to, and, most importantly, it is the right thing to do.

Halpern: The FBI has a Women’s Advisory Committee designed to empower the women in the Bureau. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.