Background: Noel Engels/Longbreak

With experience in federal law enforcement and the intelligence community, I have spent my career navigating complex investigations and unique challenges, applying advanced investigative techniques to uncover the truth and give a voice to the voiceless.

In May of 1997, I joined the US Border Patrol following a harrowing experience surviving a violent armed robbery that resulted in multiple fatalities in Tucson, Arizona, in 1996. I would become a member of the Border Patrol’s first tactical search and rescue team, BORSTAR, and later became a Supervisory LE Ranger for the DOI/BLM in California.

My career eventually took me to Afghanistan in 2005 and Iraq in 2006, where I advised and mentored the Afghan and Iraqi Border Police in embedded positions with the US Army and Marines. I continued to support the Department of Defense as an Operational Advisor for the Asymmetric Warfare Group, a Battlefield Criminal Investigator embedded with various military units conducting, among many tasks, sensitive site exploitation and tactical questioning in Afghanistan from 2008-2010, as well as a Forensic / Biometric Senior Advisor in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2012.

I’ve held various roles in the intelligence community, such as at the National Ground Intelligence Center, National Targeting Center, the DIA, as a Sr. Intel Officer, and as a Criminal Analyst for DHS/HSI.

My academic journey culminated in a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arizona, with a major in Anthropology and a minor in Native American Studies, providing me with a strong foundation for my professional career.