Special Agent

Partnership, good communication, terrific relationship. That's how Maryland U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio describes his interaction with the FBI's Baltimore field office these days. Yes, it's the same FBI he skewered in a memo 18 months ago as "a marginal presence, at best." The same agency that showed up on an internal U.S. attorney's office "to do" list made public last spring, with the objective: "Improve relationship with FBI." The reason for the turnaround? Many familiar with the offices say it's Kevin Perkins, special agent in charge.

No one would mistake them for Lance Armstrong, nor their bicycle outings for the Tour de France. But Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Bush and his Democratic opponent have frequently found themselves exercising their duties on two wheels. When Bush or Sen. John Kerry decides to work out on a bicycle, a Secret Service agent is required to be pedaling nearby. Because the Secret Service provides round-the-clock protection, agents are required to participate in whatever athletic or leisure activities their subjects choose.

Baltimore will be one of 15 cities targeted this summer for violent crime prevention, an initiative that will give the city two additional federal agents, law enforcement officials announced yesterday. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a news release that the program's goal is to have an "immediate impact on these communities by targeting repeat offenders." Officials in Baltimore said at a news conference yesterday that the substantial change will be an increase in cooperation between federal and local officials, and a greater focus on active crime-fighting.

Michael Forrest Kirchenbauer, a retired special agent with the FBI, died of cancer Sunday at his home in Newark, Del. The former Baltimore resident was 58. Mr. Kirchenbauer was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson and Parkville. He was a 1963 graduate of Parkville High School and earned a law degree from the University of Baltimore. He joined the FBI in 1969 and held positions in upstate New York and Manhattan before being assigned to the agency's Wilmington, Del., office. He retired in 1996.

Kevin L. Perkins, an 18-year FBI veteran who previously oversaw financial fraud investigations in Baltimore, has been tapped to head the FBI's Maryland and Delaware operations, the bureau said yesterday. Perkins, 43, is a certified public accountant whose bureau career has also included stops in Kansas City, Mo., Philadelphia and FBI headquarters in Washington. As the special agent in charge in Baltimore, he will oversee about 330 employees, including 200 agents. He is expected to begin work in Baltimore by the end of the month.

Gary M. Bald, head of the FBI's Baltimore office for the past 14 months, has been promoted to the agency's third-highest anti-terrorism post at headquarters in Washington. Jennifer Smith Love, one of Bald's assistants, has been named acting special agent in charge in Baltimore until a permanent replacement is found. Bald, a 26-year FBI veteran, started his new job yesterday as inspector-deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division. He was appointed Thursday. "It's one of those things when the director calls, you're here," Bald said, reflecting on how quickly the change in jobs occurred.

Threat Matrix, a new ABC drama about an elite task force created by the Department of Homeland Security to fight terrorism, is Hollywood trying to tap the psychic residue of 9/11. In that sense, as culture, it's fascinating. As entertainment, however, it's nothing we haven't seen done before - and done better. Any number of Tom Clancy movies or even The Agency, the drama CBS made last year in an effort to connect with what has come to be known as the war on terrorism, are good examples.

IN SOME portions of the real world, you pay for your mistakes. Just try making an error on your tax return. Let's say you make a boo-boo and compute that you should get a $2,000 return. The Internal Revenue Service catches the mistake, and instead you owe $2,000. What happens? Does the IRS say, "You made a mistake, but we'll let it slide" or do they insist on getting their money one way or another? We all know the answer. In school, if you made a mistake on a test, it cost you. Sometimes the difference between passing and failing depended on one stupid mistake on a test.

An FBI agent who mistakenly shot an unarmed Pasadena man in the face last year says in court papers that he believed the unwitting victim was a wanted bank robber who was reaching for a weapon when, "in a split-second decision," the agent fired "a single shot for his and his fellow officers' safety." Special Agent Christopher R. Braga offered his first detailed account of the event in court papers made public yesterday as he and two other agents argued that a $10 million federal lawsuit brought by shooting victim Joseph C. Schultz lacks merit and should be dismissed.

A Pasadena man mistakenly shot in the face by an FBI agent searching for a bank robber filed a $10 million lawsuit yesterday against three agents, alleging that they disregarded bureau arrest policies and then played down the potentially deadly result, telling an informant at the scene: "This [expletive] happens every day." Joseph C. Schultz, 21, was shot in the face after agents stopped the car his then-girlfriend, Kristen M. "Krissy" Harkum, was driving. Harkum, now 17, was not wounded in the shooting, but she also filed a $10 million lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to compensate her for "severe emotional injury."