Our Team
Bill Irwin, (FBI, Ret.)
Bill Irwin is a TAG Senior Analyst and Instructor. He retired from the FBI after more than 35 years in law enforcement and the military. Mr. Irwin spent 25 years at the FBI, where he was most recently responsible for managing the FBI Denver Division’s Confidential Human Source Program.
Mr. Irwin was an FBI Polygraph Examiner for nine years and a Supervisory Special Agent in the Polygraph Program for three years. He has conducted almost 1,000 polygraph exams in criminal, counterterrorism, foreign counterintelligence, security, applicant, and employee misconduct cases. He has conducted polygraph examinations in many high-profile cases, including 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jon Benet Ramsey case, and the Columbine High School massacre. He has tested serial killers, terrorists, espionage suspects, organized crime figures, bank robbers, armored car robbers, serial child molesters, and subjects who have falsely reported crimes and falsely confessed to crimes. He routinely traveled to “hot spots” like the Middle East, Persian Gulf, and Colombia, to conduct tests.
As a Supervisory Special Agent, he was responsible for up to 14 Polygraph Examiners and their work throughout the world. He provided direct oversight and quality control for thousands of FBI polygraph exams. He was instrumental in writing the FBI’s Personnel Security Polygraph Policy, which covered testing of FBI employees for espionage and terrorism issues.
During his career with the FBI, Mr. Irwin became an internationally recognized expert in the critical skills of investigative interviewing and interrogation. In 2000, Mr. Irwin was given the rare designation “FBI Master Police Instructor.” Mr. Irwin has lectured at the FBI Academy, the Air Force Academy, the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) Europe (Budapest), ILEA Africa (Botswana), Middle Eastern Law Enforcement Training Center (Dubai), the Pacific Training Initiative (Bangkok), the South Eastern European Cooperative (Bucharest), the Polish Intelligence Service Training Center (Warsaw), and has delivered training in Suriname, Guam, Saipan, and Cape Verde Islands.
Mr. Irwin has extensive experience investigating violent crime and was trained in criminal behavioral analysis (“profiling”). He worked closely with the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit as a National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime Coordinator, consulting and collaborating on cases.
Mr. Irwin has received numerous awards from the FBI for his work solving homicides, and bank and armored car robberies, and for his handling of special events. He has received awards from the state of Wyoming for his handling of a child abduction and murder and the state of Colorado for his work as the Intelligence Officer for the first U.S.A. Pro Cycling Challenge Bicycle Race. He was also responsible for coordinating the FBI response for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, held in Denver. Mr. Irwin also was a member of the Denver FBI Hazardous Materials Response Team.
Prior to becoming an FBI Agent, Mr. Irwin was a police officer for the Sherman, TX, Police Department, where he was Police Officer of the Year in 1983. He attended the 141st session of the FBI National Academy, while a Sherman Police Officer. 25 years later, he was an FBI class counselor for the 241st session of the FBI National Academy. Mr. Irwin began his law enforcement career as a Military Policeman, in the U.S. Army.
Mr. Irwin attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Safety Education. He has also received additional training with the Israeli Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Advanced Polygraph Institute at the University of Virginia, and Threat Assessment Group, Inc.