The NCIS website states that agents must retire at the age of 57, and since 20 years of service are required for retirement, they have to enter NCIS before they turn 37. I know Deeks' age issue has been widely discussed, but I feel like that was on the topic of FLETC. How are they going to find a loophole for him to enter NCIS? Or is Hetty just going to pull some strings?
I cannot speak for the others, but in my discussion of Deeks and the age requirement, I was speaking more in the terms of him joining NCIS as an agent, because of those requirements as you list. As for FLETC, they don’t just do basic agent trainings there, it is a place where specialized training, continuing education, “how to be a supervisor” type training, etc. all happen. I can’t find any spelled out reference, so I’m not 100% certain, but my feeling is, if your agency wants you there, you go to FLETC and do the training. Their website lists ranges for Physical Fitness Standards by age and gender, starting at 24 & below, and continuing to 60 & above. So I’m pretty sure FLETC isn’t the problem (the show probably just simplified the “joining NCIS as an agent”/basic training thing by just referring to FLETC).
The NCIS Website lists the following requirements:
-Must not have reached 37 years of age (exceptions are preference eligible veterans and those currently covered under the 6C Federal Law Enforcement retirement system). **
-Must have vision correctable to 20/20 with normal color vision.
-Must be a U.S. born or naturalized U.S. citizen.
-Must have a valid driver's license.
-Must pass a background check.
-Must pass a polygraph examination.
-Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance.
* An accredited baccalaureate degree is not a requirement, although it is a quality-ranking factor.
As far as we know, only the first requirement is holding Deeks back. In further reading, what it means by “those currently covered under 6c...” is that if you’ve worked as in another area of Federal Law Enforcement for enough time that your total years worked would still be 20 by age 57, you’re still eligible to become an agent. Now, the biggest question is - Does Deeks fall in that category?? The on-paper answer, probably not, as he is an LAPD employee. But this document gives us set of roles that qualify as Law Enforcement Officers:
Coupled with this definition of Law Enforcement Officer from 5 U.S.C. 8401(17):
leads me to assume that Hetty could successfully convince whoever higher up that Deeks’s 11 years as the LAPD Liaison to NCIS should qualify for reasons similar to those in the first highlighted section (if prison guards can be considered such, an active liaison working directly with other Federal Agents could probably qualify similarly). While he probably never received a separate paycheck for this role, I would assume there has to be some kind of a stipend or something from the agency attached to his LAPD paycheck for his “liaising”. This could be enough for Hetty to say he’s worked in FEDERAL law enforcement for 11 years, thereby qualifying him to 1) add to a federal retirement and 2) fall into the category of that exception of requirement one on the NCIS list.
TL;DR - I don’t think it would actually be too much of a stretch for someone as “creative” as Hetty to present reasonable arguments that would legitimately allow for Deeks’s acceptance into NCIS.
