By Michael Motes

It's hard for Jim Dunn to remember exactly what prompted him to become an FBI agent, but he has no trouble recalling on a practically hour-by-hour basis the most dramatic event in his 24-year-old career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, James J. Dunn, Jr. was attending Boston College during the late forties and early fifties, undecided about a career.

"I read a story in our college newspaper about one of the professors who had been an FBI agent," he recalls. "This whetted my curiosity and I arranged a meeting with him. I think I was in my junior year - about 1950. The more I talked with the professor, the more interested I became in the Bureau."

Following his graduation from Boston College in 1951, Dunn spent three years in the Marine Corps, attaining the rank of lieutenant. Upon his discharge, he pursued the career he had discussed with the college professor and in June, 1954, he was appointed a Special Agent of the FBI.

Dunn's career has taken him on assignments throughout the United States, beginning in San Francisco. He served in the Washington, DC, Field Office until March 1958, when he was assigned as a supervisor at FBI headquarters in Washington.

In December, 1965, he was designated to perform duties in the Inspection Division, and, following a period of service in the Intelligence Division, he was assigned as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Salt Lake City, Utah, office in January 1970. Additional assignments took him to Baltimore, back to Washington, Columbia, SC, and most recently to Atlanta, where he became Special Agent in Charge in July, 1975.

His "most dramatic assignment" occurred in Atlanta on October 20, 1977, when he received word that a hijacked airplane was en route to Atlanta.

"Ironically, I was on my way to Hartsfield International Airport when word came over the Bureau radio that a hijacked plane was heading to Atlanta," he said.

"We headed immediately for our downtown office to get all of the data together and to assign the various agents to duties both at the airport and in the office. There were about 75 Atlanta agents involved in the case." Assignments made, Dunn went to the airport.

The flight, which originated in Grand Island, Nebraska, had been taken over by a gunman shortly after take off. The hijacker allowed the pilot to land in Kansas City, where some passengers were released. He then ordered the pilot to Atlanta, holding more than a dozen passengers, plus the crew, as hostages.

"It was a long day," Agent Dunn remembers. "I spent 12 hours at the airport in charge of the overall control and command post. We were in contact to negotiate with the hijacker and the drama was intense."

The day ended with the hijacker committing suicide aboard the plane, but Agent Dunn spent several more hours with press conferences for local media and answering questions from newspaper and broadcast representatives from throughout the country.

A little more than two months later, the agent was again called to Hartsfield International.

"It was early Christmas morning, about eight I believe. I got a telephone call and was told, 'Mr. Dunn, you won't believe this, but we've got another one.'

"That was some way to begin Christmas Day, which I had planned to spend quietly with my family, attending Mass at St. Jude's and just doing all the things that families do together at Christmas.

"I was surprised, but in this job you are never really surprised because you don't know what's going to happen next. Fortunately, this hijacking was resolved within a couple of hours and I did get to spend the major portion of Christmas Day with my wife and daughter."

Asked if he believed that the news media gives too much coverage to terroristic events, such as hijackings, Atlanta's top G-Man replied:

"Personally, from a law-enforcement standpoint, I believe that the notoriety and exposure that terrorists get do give some people ideas. Obviously, to balance that, there is the interest of the public, who must be informed of what is going on. Plus, the media has a job to do. So, it really depends on what occupation you are in. I think we would be better off with less exposure, especially if it is a very gory situation in which people are killed."

Although he is not an avid television fan, Dunn agrees with those who think that too much violence is brought into our homes via the tube. His personal taste in TV centers around sports events, movies and selected specials. He particularly likes National Geographic and Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations.

Of the popular television series, "The FBI," still broadcast through syndication although no longer being produced, Dunn says, " I remember the first show in the series very well. I was attending an in-service training session in Virginia and a number of us gathered in the television room to watch the show. Our reaction to the first broadcast was very negative. I will say, however, that they refined the series and in a very short time, it became a very excellent show. Efrem Zimbalist did a very fine portrayal of an agent."

Dunn added that his former pastor, Monsignor R. Donald Kiernan, jokingly once told members of his parish if they needed to reach him, not to call on Sunday nights when "The FBI" was on!

Dunn describes his working hours as "seven days a week, 24 hours a day," adding that all FBI agents are constantly on call.

When an agent is vacationing or traveling in connection with his work, a detailed itinerary must be filed with his home office. This often works to the good of the agent, Dunn explains, saying that on several occasions agents have been notified of family crisis because of the travel schedule left at the office.

"Our agents come from all over the country," he says. "Agents are rarely assigned to their hometowns, thus are away from family members. In the event of family sickness or a death, an agent can be quickly located through his itinerary, which must include complete travel routes, names of hotels, and so forth. This has happened several times in the Atlanta office, so it's really a good idea."

In the course of his career, Dunn has been responsible for the apprehension of several "Most Wanted" fugitives. Fortunately, he says, he has never been involved in an arrest that ended in violence.

One arrest that could have led to a catastrophe was the apprehension of a bank robber in Utah. A call to Dunn's office in Salt Lake City led him and another agent to a construction site north of the city. Showing a foreman a photograph of the fugitive, Dunn and his assistant were told that a man resembling the fugitive was working as a welder. The agents approached the suspect, identified themselves and that bank robber surrendered.

At the time of this arrest, the suspect was holding an acetylene torch which he could have used on the agents!

As head of the Atlanta office, Dunn is currently emphasizing "national priority" work as established by the attorney general of the United States and the FBI director. This is three fold: 1) "White Collar" Crime, 2) Organized Crime, and 3) Counter-Intelligence.

In addition to these priorities, the Atlanta office is working in the areas concerning the theft of heavy equipment and the constant search for fugitives. In the past year, two of the "Ten Most Wanted" criminals have been apprehended by the Atlanta office.

And that's not a bad record for the Catholic G-Man and his Atlanta agents!