SAN ANTONIO – It is a place he has been before, except this time instead of fighting financial crimes and being part of the SWAT Team, Aaron Tapp is the man in charge.
“I’m very familiar with the area. We loved it when we were here before. We loved the people. We loved the area. And when we left, it was with a little bit of a broken heart because I didn’t think we’d ever get back here again. And we did. And so, the plan is to stick around for a while,” Tapp said.
Tapp has been the special agent in charge of the San Antonio FBI Field Office for six months. While a lot has changed since he was here in 2013, the goal has remained the same.
“I stand and represent, you know, 600-plus people who are phenomenal people. But we’re ordinary people and we’re ordinary people doing extraordinary work because we have an extraordinary mission. And that is to protect the American people,” Tapp said.
Tapp sat down with KSAT’s Steve Spriester for an episode of “Spriester Sessions” to discuss Tapp’s background and concerns. Watch the episode in the video player above.
The position of special agent In charge means Tapp is the local face of the FBI, something he says he’s comfortable with. He also pointed out that the tasks the agency faces every day are very different and evolving, but he doesn’t call them daunting, he instead calls them “challenging.”
“It’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge. It’s a fun challenge. It’s an exciting challenge. The cadre of people that we have in this organization shock me every day with what they can come up with to overcome and to solve problems and to innovate. And we’ve just got great people,” Tapp said.
The chief among those challenges is fighting terrorism, but his office faces additional major concerns.
“The area of this office covers from north of Waco down to Brownsville, north to south, and then it goes out to Del Rio. You know, 679 miles of border. It’s a broad area. And so there’s one concern that keeps me up at night — there’s a series of concerns that are always on our mind, obviously — terrorism remains, and I think always will be,” Tapp said.
Tapp listed his top four major concerns as the special agent in charge:
- Terrorism, both foreign and domestic: “Our biggest concern in that realm is the lone actor, which doesn’t give us a lot of opportunity to detect, you know, a scheme or a plot beforehand,” Tapp said.
- Cyber-enabled crimes: “We worry that our elders, our elderly population is being fleeced by fraudsters who sense a very wealthy and vulnerable population,” Tapp said.
- Keeping children safe online: “We’ve got agents and analysts who spend all day, every day trying to protect our children online,” Tapp said.
- Cyber attacks: “The ransom, virtual ransom attacks that are going down, around the border ... there’s plenty to keep us busy,” Tapp said.
There’s plenty to keep them busy but also determined. As the FBI special agent in charge, Tapp said he is already meeting with people and talking at seminars because he wants the public’s help in this effort to keep people safe.
“There’s a diversity of things that we need to do. But again, it boils down to our mission, and that is in all ways, to protect the American people,” he said.