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Why Do Mormons Make Great FBI and CIA Recruits?

Mormonism, a religious group, not well known to many Americans, was highly regarded as a sign-up to well-known investigative US agencies like the FBI and CIA. With the delicate and sensitive mission, why were they specifically selected for the job?

Agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the CIA specifically prefers hiring Mormons to serve as their agents because they are multi-linguistic, they pass on clearance at a meager cost, and they have an affordable lifestyle.

The History of the Mormon Church

Mormons embrace concepts of Christianity and revelations made by their founder, Joseph Smith. They primarily belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or LDS, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. The church has over 16 million members worldwide. 

Another Mormon denomination, the Community of Christ, is centered in Independence, Missouri, and has about 250,000 members. The religion was officially founded in 1830 when The Book of Mormon was published.

Today, the LDS church is most prevalent in the United States, Latin America, Canada, Europe, the Philippines, Africa, and Oceania. While Mormons embrace many Christian beliefs, they have their own distinct set of philosophies, values, and practices. (Source: Pew Research Center)

Mormons in the American Society

These are among the findings of a comprehensive survey by the Pew Research Center. Previous studies, including the Pew Forum’s 2007 US Religious Landscape Survey, have found that Mormons make up slightly less than 2% of the US public. 

Six-in-ten Mormons say the American people as a whole are uninformed about Mormonism. Nearly half say that Mormons face discrimination in the US today. And when asked to describe in their own words the most critical problems facing Mormons living in the United States today, many cite misperceptions about Mormonism, discrimination, lack of acceptance in American society, and the like. (Source: Pew Research Center)

Are Mormons the Best Choice for Agents?

Of all places, American agencies like the FBI, the CIA, and the Department of Homeland Security desirably point out Mormons as the perfect people who can do their agency’s descriptive job orders. 

Reasons would be That they are big on obeying authority, have learned to obey without question, are considered honest, and often get off on having a job with authority. Foreign language skills are a bonus too. Mormons as FBI agents because they were squeaky clean, they have no criminal records and no records of substance abuse. They didn’t show up to work drunk nor were they late to work. They are also known to be clean cut. They were picture-perfect for Hoover. 

Hiring a Jo Blow off the street and sending them to a CIA training center to learn a language and be taught a country’s customs doesn’t compare to having a Mormon who had boots on the ground for two years.


Mormons aren’t nearly perfect people, but there is always an advantage to many things. They have proven that they are also a great contributor to the American investigative society. (Source: Altas Obscura)

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