An IACSP Q&A With Former Undercover FBI Agent Martin Suarez

Martin Suarez is the author of “Inside the Cartel: How An Undercover FBI Agent Smuggled Cocaine, Laundered Cash, and Dismantled a Colombian Narco-Empire.” Ian Frisch is his co-author.
Martin Suarez served as an FBI Special Agent for twenty-three years, beginning his career in July 1987 and retiring in October 2011. His first assignment was with the DEA in Miami, where he worked for about a year. He was then assigned to various divisions, including a stint in San Juan from 1991 to 1995, before returning to Miami in 1995. Throughout his career at the FBI, he conducted numerous high-profile investigations involving drug cartels, organized crime, public corruption, murder-for-hire cases, national security, and terrorism. 
In 1990, Suarez attended the undercover school and completed the advanced undercover school in 1998. That same year, he was appointed Southeast Region Backstopping Coordinator in Miami, providing national and international support while working undercover. He also served as an instructor at undercover certification schools and worked as a safeguard assessment counselor. 
Suarez holds the record for the longest continuous period spent undercover and has successfully infiltrated criminal organizations across the United States, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. His awards include being a six-time recipient of the FBI’s Special Performance Award, a four-time recipient of the Department of Justice’s Outstanding Law Enforcement Offi...