Celebrating Agents of Asian Ancestry: John Uda
A former teacher, John Uda served from 1979 to 2004 with assignments in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and FBI Headquarters.
Video Transcript
When I was a seventh-grader in a little Homedale (Idaho) town, I watched The FBI Story with Jimmy Stewart and I said, "That’s what I’d like to be." So that’s what I kind of set my goal as being an FBI agent.
I had a great time. It’s really what I always wanted. I knew I didn’t want to be a farmer. I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher. I went the teaching route and got in. I remember I had five goals in the FBI from the get-go. And that was, number one, have as much fun as possible. Number two, don’t get killed. Number three, be a defensive tactics instructor. And number four is be on SWAT. And number five is work violent crime. And I got to do—I didn’t get killed—I got to do all of those.
When I think about war stories, I think really of SWAT and all the things we did on SWAT. When I think of contributions to the Bureau, I think of the three years that I was a defensive tactics instructor at the Academy. You know I have agents that are now retiring that I taught the ropes to. So that was my contribution.
Video Download
Video Source
Recent Video
- 07.09.2025 — FBI Sacramento Year in Review 2025
- 06.18.2025 — Inside the FBI Podcast - Crisis Response Canines
- 06.17.2025 — Romance Scam Victim Warns Others Not to Fall Prey to Scammers
- 06.16.2025 — Kansas City Detective Describes How Regional Computer Forensics Labs Extract Data from Devices
- 06.16.2025 — Kansas City Detective Describes How RCFL Extracted Forensic Clues From Damaged Phone
- 06.12.2025 — FBI San Francisco: Assault on Federal Officers
- 06.10.2025 — FBI Los Angeles May 2025
- 06.04.2025 — Run. Hide. Fight. - Safe in Schools (Trailer)
- 06.02.2025 — Learn About FBI Sacramento's Citizen's Academy
- 06.02.2025 — Inside the FBI Podcast: Justice for Palak Patel: A Life Gone Too Soon
- 05.23.2025 — Inside the FBI Podcast: Searching for the Luhk Sisters
- 05.21.2025 — Ahead of the Threat Podcast: Episode Ten - Hugh Thompson
- 05.21.2025 — Parents of Overdose Victim Describe Darknet Dangers
- 05.20.2025 — FBI Seattle Police Week Message 2025
- 05.14.2025 — Inside the FBI Podcast: Protecting Chinese Students from Scammers
- 05.12.2025 — FBI Director Kash Patel's National Police Week Message
- 05.08.2025 — FBI Search Targets Darknet Drug Networks
- 05.08.2025 — What Makes Darknet Marketplaces So Dangerous
- 05.07.2025 — FBI New York: Operation Restore Justice
- 05.07.2025 — FBI Cleveland - Operation Restore Justice
FBI Weekly Newsletter
Subscribe to our email newsletter for news on the FBI, sent out every week.