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In this episode, retired agent Colton Seale reviews his time on the FBI Fly Team and the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG).
During his many deployments around the world, Colton has had assignments most Bureau employees have never experienced, including being the only FBI agent to have set foot on bin Laden’s compound and house.
The Fly Team is a small, highly trained cadre of counterterrorism investigators—including special agents and intelligence analysts—based at FBI Headquarters who stand ready to deploy anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice. (Credit FBI.gov).
The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) is led and managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The HIG ensures the nation’s interrogation resources apply the most effective methodology in gaining cooperation in complex human engagements. (Credit FBI.gov).
Special Agent (Retired)
Colton Seale
1/1999 – 7/2020
Colton Seale served in the FBI for 22 years.
His first assignment was to the Anchorage Division in Alaska, where he investigated practically every type of FBI violation. Throughout his Bureau career, Colton conducted thousands of interviews and led a variety of specialty teams in high-pressure, high-stakes settings domestically and internationally, including in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
After his time on the Fly Team, Colton was asked to lead the effort for the HIG in figuring out how we actually talk to subjects and gather accurate information from them. He led the development of the Interview & Interrogation (I&I) training for the HIG, which is recognized as bringing science into the art of interviewing.
While with the HIG, Colton taught I&I courses to thousands of members of the U.S. Intelligence Community while also developing training programs for some of the U.S.’s premier law enforcement agencies and many of our foreign partners. Although initially created in conjunction with the U.S. Intelligence Community, the interview techniques are also applicable for training and fact-finding systems for other organizations.
Colton received the National Intelligence Community Citation and the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence for his work in these matters.
After his retirement from the FBI, Colton, who is a certified coach, founded and is the principal consultant of Pyxis Academy.
The training and consulting service that equips corporate clients and the law enforcement and intelligence communities to apply expertise in interpersonal communications, gained through decades as FBI Interrogators and HUMINT professionals.
The following are links to articles about Colton Seale, the FBI’s role in a war-zone, and the mass shootings and kidnapping investigations he mentioned during his case review:
The Keene Sentinel – 8/14/2023: After 21 years in the FBI, Seale is a living lie detector
American Forces Press Service – 11/6/2013: Army major declared sole suspect in Hood shooting
History.com – 2009: Army major kills 13 people in Fort Hood shooting spree
DOJ Press Release – 6/17/2010: Faisal Shahzad Indicted for Attempted Car Bombing in Times Square
Military.com – 4/06/2022: The Operation That Took Out Osama Bin Laden
CNN – 4/26/2015: Could Warren Weinstein have been saved?
FBI.gov (VIDEO): The FBI’s Role in a War Zone
These following are links to more FBI Retired Case File Review episodes about the Fly Team and Americans kidnapped overseas:
112: Ray Holcomb – Inside FBI Counterterrorism Post 9/11 (Part 2)
301: Zorka Martinovich – We Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists?
197: Nancy Savage – Robert Levinson, Iranian Hostage RIP
Images from Colton’s travels around the world:
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