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Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory: 2025 marks the 90th anniversary of the FBI’s National Academy.

This unique program, created in 1935, gives leaders and managers from law enforcement agencies around the world the opportunity to spend 10 weeks advancing their professional education, honing their physical fitness, and expanding their networks at the Bureau’s Training Academy campus in Quantico, Virginia.

On this episode of our podcast, we’ll learn how the National Academy program equips law enforcement leaders to strive for personal and professional excellence and foster interagency collaboration in the quest to ensure justice the world over.

I'm Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory, and this is Inside the FBI.

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Oprihory: The FBI’s National Academy is a nomination-based professional education program.

A student’s journey to Quantico begins when the head of their home law enforcement agency recommends them for the opportunity, based on their demonstrated aptitude for leadership.

Each National Academy class—known as a “session”—includes about 265 law enforcement officers. And up to 35 spots in each class are reserved for international law enforcement personnel. As FBI Training Division Instructor Gail Pennybacker explains...

Gail Pennybacker: It is absolutely invaluable for this experience to include our international partners—what we learn from them, what they learn from us, how we can share, how we can relate, how we can have those experiences where we have commonalities and we have challenges. And in some cases, they're the same. In some cases, there are things that we are having a revelation and understanding the challenges that maybe one law enforcement agency or in a country or in a culture that we may not have in the United States. So, that enrichment goes in every direction.

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Oprihory: The National Academy curriculum originally focused on tactics. But, over time, it evolved to also center leadership. The program includes graduate and undergraduate certificates through the University of Virginia .

After students arrive in the hallowed halls of the FBI Training Academy, they take undergraduate and/or graduate classes covering everything from matters of intelligence and counterterrorism to forensic and behavioral sciences and communication. Students also participate in leadership and specialized trainings.

This versatile curriculum is designed to help students improve the way their home agencies operate and to raise law enforcement standards, knowledge, and cooperation around the globe.

And regardless of the ranks they might wear at home, this experience—shared by countless National Academy classes before them—becomes the great equalizer.

At the academy, students live in dorms, wear the same uniforms, share meals in a cafeteria, and complete group workouts. They have early wake-up calls and a demanding curriculum. It’s hard work, on both a professional and personal level.

So, naturally...

Heidi Ramsey: When they get here, they're nervous.

Oprihory: That's Heidi Ramsey, an instructor with the FBI Training Division.

Ramsey: They don't think they're going to be able to complete the coursework. If the assignments are going to be overwhelming. How do I get from the gym to the cafeteria to the dorm room without getting lost in the maze of hallways?

But after a couple weeks, they start, you know, they're interacting with each other. They realize that everybody's here with a common purpose, regardless of the size of the agency. Everybody has the same issues. They have the same problems. They have the same challenges, that everybody else has. So ... they start gelling.

And towards week- six and week- seven, as they're getting ready to graduate, they really do become a big 250ish-person family. So that, it's really neat from an instructor perspective to see that transition from the deer-in-the-headlight look on the first day to, “Hey, we've got a family of 250 people that will be together forever and bonded by that particular session.”

Oprihory: In this way, graduates don’t only gain academic bona fides from the experience. They leave Quantico with a permanent support network of elite law enforcement professionals the world over that they can consult for the rest of their careers.

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Oprihory: The National Academy Program also encourages and equips participants to prioritize fitness.

FBI Training Division Instructor Kevin Chimento: A lot of times when you advance in law enforcement, your job becomes a little more sedentary, so we're just showing them ways to get out of their seat, move around dynamically. So some speed, agility, power, muscular endurance, muscular strength, anaerobic aerobic ability.

Oprihory: That’s Kevin Chimento, another instructor with the FBI Training Division.

Chimento: You know, we want to give them a gift of a lifetime. So, we teach them how to design their own programs. So with that being said, they can go back to their departments, spread that word, to everyone that they come in contact with, and also help these other police officers how to design a program. And, we keep it pretty simple so that they can remember that for the rest of their lives.

Oprihory: The hallmark of the fitness side of the National Academy experience is the Yellow Brick Road. This 6.1-mile run through a hilly, wooded trail constructed by the U.S. Marine Corps forces participants to climb over walls, run through creeks, jump through simulated windows, scale rock faces with ropes, crawl under barbed wire in muddy water, maneuver across a cargo net, and more. Students who successfully complete the challenge receive a yellow brick as a tangible testament to their achievement.

According to National Academy alum and DeSoto County (Mississippi) Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II, the challenge is surmountable with physical preparation—which is part of the National Academy process—and an open mind.

Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II: All you have to do is be committed. So, work on your physical fitness, but, most importantly, be committed to yourself. Be committed to ... the expectations that ... they are going to have of you, but also know what your limitations are, and don't be afraid to ask for help.

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Oprihory: Taken collectively, the various facets of the National Academy experience don’t just build stronger law enforcement personnel. They build stronger people. As Michael Whittington, a commander with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in California, said of his National Academy experience...

Commander Michael Whittington: I was able to focus on who I am as a person. I was able to focus on being a good husband when I got back, being a good father, being a good leader to the people around me because I wasn't surrounded by the noise of my agency or the noise of the day-to-day operations.

I was able to focus on those core values and who I am as a person. And that was life altering for me, because when I went back, I had a completely different perspective.

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Oprihory: Members of the law enforcement and intelligence communities can visit le.fbi.gov/training to learn more about the National Academy and other training opportunities and seminars that the Bureau offers to our partners. They can also visit leb.fbi.gov to read the Law Enforcement Bulletin, a publication produced by the FBI Training Division for readers throughout the law enforcement community.

This has been another production of Inside the FBI. You can follow us on your favorite podcast player, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

You can also listen to our show via the the myFBI Dashboard app. Visit fbi.gov/dashboardapp to learn more.

And you can subscribe to email alerts about new episodes at fbi.gov/podcasts.

I’m Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory with the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs. Thanks for listening.

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