Student Reflections – William Mann

On Monday, we visited the United States Consul General at his office in Sydney. It wasn’t like I expected it to be. It was several office suites located on an upper floor of a typical looking office building in the area. No flags or Marine guards outside. The people we talked to were very interesting and included the Consul General himself, an IRS Criminal Investigations Special Agent, an FBI agent, and a NCIS agent. The Secret Service also has a presence there, but was not available at the time. They seemed to have a very good working relationship with the local Australian authorities, but it still seems a little odd to have U.S. authorities in other countries. It would be like seeing a foreign country’s military or law enforcement authorities in the U.S. I guess it just shows how our globalized world is getting smaller and countries have to work closer together to combat crime which is globalizing at least as much as legitimate business. The world is indeed getting smaller, even if it does not seem like it after 14 hours on a plane to get here. These people are among the best at what they do and they have absolutely amazing jobs in an amazing place.