Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: More than 400 FBI employees are returning to their assigned duty offices from their deployments to areas impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The FBI worked shoulder to shoulder with its federal law enforcement partners to provide support to local and state law enforcement agencies whose resources were stretched during and in the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes.

FBI SWAT operators, crisis management specialists, and Hostage Rescue Team members served in strategic locations throughout the U.S. and Caribbean.

FBI employees reporting from the field say sharing assets with those in need, including colleagues evacuated during the storms, was both professionally and personally rewarding.

Edward Reinhold is the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group.

Edward Reinhold: That’s what our job is—to respond to a major event, whether it’s a terrorist attack or it’s a natural phenomenon. Our job, in coordination with other government agencies, is to respond and help the American people be safe and to try to recover. That’s why we joined this organization.

Halpern: Special Agent in Charge of the San Antonio Field Office Christopher Combs says part of the response included…

Christopher Combs: The best is, obviously, helping the local police and fire departments rescuing people. We had our people in the boats helping get people out of their houses—that’s the most fulfilling. But we also post agents at the shelters to help people.

Halpern: The FBI also provided aircraft and boats to help with the rescue efforts. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.