Strobel. Rick Strobel.
When we hear the words "intelligence agency," the usual suspects are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Think internationally and you might come up with the KGB or, if you read John LeCarre novels, MI5. But the intelligence agency Rick Strobel is works for not one you hear about in the media although it does conjure up images of shadowy international figures and cloak-and-dagger-style spies. He works for Interpol.
What's Interpol? It's the International Criminal Police Organization
whose mission is "to be the world's pre-eminent police organization." Interpol does this by working in tandem with global law enforcement organizations, authorities, and services to prevent, detect, and suppress crime.
"All 182 countries who are members of Interpol must maintain a single point of contact for all of their law enforcement elements, so when something happens, everyone knows who to talk to," he explains. "Things can get pretty confusing if you consider that the United States, for example, has over 18,000 law enforcement agencies."
Strobel began his career with the government in 1965, after he graduated from Penn State. When he began at Penn State, he originally thought he'd study engineering. But after spending a semester drawing a pipe joint in engineering graphics, he headed over to Liberal Arts, the history department in particular. Not knowing exactly what he wanted to do—but always interested in government—he attended a recruiting event on campus close to graduation. Representatives from all the big government agencies were there, giving exams to anyone who was interested. Strobel took them all. After three days of interviews in D.C., the NSA offered him a job. He took it, having no idea what the agency did.
"The cold war was going strong," he recalls. "One of the jokes going around that time was that NSA stood for 'No Such Agency.' We always considered the CIA the publicity hounds."
During his fourteen years at the NSA, Strobel also managed to earn an M.S. from Johns Hopkins and a law degree from the University of Maryland. In 1979, he moved to the U.S. Customs Department, an agency that, in his opinion, "had more on its plate that any other," because they wanted to create an intelligence function. By 1996, he'd had enough of intelligence work and moved to the Treasury Department to work on creating common standards within that department's law enforcement agencies. Eight years later, due to shifting jobs and offices, Strobel is back at Customs, now called Customs and Border Protection, working as the senior advisor to its director. He is one of the people who are detailed to Interpol Washington, which is a bureau in the Department of Justice, from twenty-one different federal law enforcement agencies.
Interpol began at an international criminal police congress in 1914, which was held in Monaco after some jewels from the Monaco royal family were stolen and the thief absconded across international borders. This meeting generated the idea for an international commission to combat crime that crosses international boundaries, and Interpol was formed in 1923. Congress authorized the United States to join the organization in 1938. Some of the issues that the organization works on are terrorism; war crimes and crimes against humanity; trafficking in human beings; environmental crime; drug trafficking; and assistance with the arrest and extradition of fugitives.
After serving on the alumni society board for six years, Strobel is ending his term, but continues to mentor students. When he met one of those students, Lynn Jo, at a Liberal Arts panel discussion two years ago, he was so impressed he encouraged her to come to Washington for an internship—even though she was just a sophomore.
"I was shocked when I found out she wasn't a senior," he recalls. "When she got to Washington, lots of us sat around wondering if we had enough work to actually challenge her. I think we did."
Reflecting on his time at Penn State, Strobel says his academic experience provided more than simply a liberal arts education.
"The university helped me to develop skills of critical thinking and communication," he says. "Those abilities have been invaluable to me during my entire career."