FBI agents train to be 14-year-old girls

[sarah_webinc]

FBI agents train to be 14-year-old girls

The FBI has recruited three girls to teach agents how to pose as teenagers on the internet.

The 14-year-olds have been teaching agents how to communicate like young girls, by using written quizzes on celebrity gossip and clothing trends.

The training is part of the FBI's Operation Innocent Image, which aims to track down paedophiles and child porn peddlers who prey on teenagers on the internet, according to the San Fransisco Chronicle

Best friends, Karen, Mary and Kristin were recruited after one of their fathers - an agent involved in the paedophile investigations - watched her instant messaging a friend and couldn't understand what she was typing.

Gary Bald, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore office, said: "We can teach agents how to be careful and make sure they're following the law and how to arrest people.

"But how to convince people they're a 13-year-old is something we need help on."

The first time the girls gave a quiz, all the agents that took part failed.

One agent insisted that he was right when he answered on a quiz that Justin Timberlake was more popular than Destiny's Child.

Another was upset when the girls told the class that Led Zeppelin just wasn't cool. Appraising the agents' performance, Mary said: "They, like, don't know anything."

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_787868.html