Reflections Magazine Issue #74 - Spring 2011 | Page 13

Feature Article

Craig Pappin ’01 Practices Law and Works
as Undercover Agent with U.S. Air Force
By Sheila Pursglove—Detroit Legal News

continued from page 12. . .

Pappin helped protect President
Ronald Reagan, Vice President
George H.W. Bush, and many foreign dignitaries, including British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, King Juan Carlos of Spain,
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail
Gorbachev, the Shah of Iran, the
President of Zambia and the
Crown Prince of Japan.
“Special agents assigned to
protective details are literally
up close and personal, roving
around the principals,” he said.
“When Gorbachev arrived in the
U.S., there was extensive television coverage—and I could be
seen standing under the wing
of the Soviet Aeroflot jet. When
King Juan Carlos unexpectedly
had to spend a night in the
United States, we had to quickly
arrange appropriate security,
transportation, and lodging for
the king and staff—and juggling
the various telephone calls between two ends of the VIP suite,
I almost bumped into the king
as I rounded a corner.”
His early duties were as a law
enforcement specialist in Grand
Forks, N.D., and Athens, Greece.
He also conducted felony criminal investigations, and while stationed in Athens, he worked the
aftermath of a bombing on the
American base—displaying skills
that eventually led to his recruitment to AFOSI. Courses at Bolling
AFB trained him in firearms and
other weapons, defensive tactics, forensics, surveillance and
surveillance detection, antiterrorism techniques, crime scene
processing, interrogations and
interviews, court testimony, and
military and federal law.

Editor’s Note: The following is an edited version of a story that was published
July 12, 2010, in the Detroit Legal News. This story is reprinted with permission.

After graduating, he spent a oneyear probationary period out in
the field, followed by specialized
training in antiterrorism and
counterintelligence, computer
crimes and other sophisticated
investigative capabilities.
Pappin could paper the walls of
his house with his umpteen USAF
awards and deco Ʌѥ