Evy Poumpouras is an American journalist and author. She was a special agent, polygraph examiner, and interrogator with the United States Secret Service from 2000 to 2012. Poumpouras was a co-host of the

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

TV series, ''Spy Games''. She authored the memoir, ''Becoming Bulletproof'' (2020), and is an adjunct professor of criminal justice and criminology at the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

Early life

Poumpouras was born in the United States to immigrant parents from Greece. Her father is from

Mesta The ''Mesta'' () was a powerful association protecting livestock owners and their animals in the Crown of Castile that was incorporated in the 13th century and was dissolved in 1836. Although best known for its organisation of the annual migrat ...

and her mother is from Kilkis, Greece. She grew up in Queens, New York City. As a child, she and her brother spent most of their summers in Greece with extended family members. Greek is her first language followed by English. She learned Italian while studying at the

American University of Rome The American University of Rome (commonly referred to as AUR) is a degree-granting American university in Rome, Italy. AUR is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in the United States and is recognized by the Italian Min ...

. Poumpouras learned Spanish while in Mexico for a semester and French after studying in France. She was the first in her family to attend college. She graduated from

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

. Poumpouras earned a M.A. in forensic psychology from Argosy University.

Career

Poumpouras worked in the insurance industry after college. She interned for U.S. representative

Carolyn McCarthy Carolyn McCarthy ( Cook; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 1997 to 2015. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Par ...

who suggested she consider joining the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

or United States Secret Service (USSS). At the age of 23, Poumpouras spent five months training at the police academy of the New York City Police Department. In 2000, she then accepted an offer to join the USSS. Early into her career, she faced sexism from her colleagues. At the time, over 90 percent of special agents were males. Poumpouras passed the same physical requirements as her male counterparts. She worked for the USSS for twelve years during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. For her first eight years in the service, Poumpouras worked in the New York Field Office as a polygraph examiner and interrogator in the polygraph unit. She interviewed criminal offenders and suspects to gain intelligence. She was a

first responder A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, disaster, medical emergency, structure fire, crime, or terr ...

to the September 11 attacks, for which, she received a USSS Valor Award. After the attacks, she learned Arabic. Poumpouras later served as a special agent in the presidential protective division tasked with protecting president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. She left the USSS in 2012. After leaving USSS, Poumpouras earned a master's degree in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 2020, Poumpouras authored the memoir, ''Becoming Bulletproof''. She is a journalist and co-hosted the

TV series, ''Spy Games''. She is an adjunct professor of criminal justice and

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

at the

Selected works

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poumporas, Evy Living people Place of birth missing (living people) United States Secret Service agents American women police officers American women civil servants Obama administration personnel 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists American women memoirists Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Judges in American reality television series Journalists from New York City Writers from Queens, New York American people of Greek descent New York City Police Department officers American women criminologists American criminologists Hofstra University alumni Argosy University alumni 1977 births