Saipan’s Miller selected for FBI Collegiate Academy

A Saipan-born woman who once picked up the phone and called the local FBI office to ask how she could become a special agent is now getting an opportunity to experience the agency up close.

Marie Aldan Miller, 30, has been selected to participate in the FBI Collegiate Academy in Indianapolis, a milestone she said traces back to a dream she had while growing up on Saipan.

“At 22, I remember calling the FBI office on Saipan and asking what the requirements were to be a special agent,” Miller said.

Miller said she was one of 22 applicants chosen from a pool representing 496,000 students for the FBI Collegiate Academy.

For Miller, the selection is particularly meaningful because her journey took her thousands of miles away from the island she calls home.

The daughter of Rose and Thomas Aldan, Miller was born and raised on Saipan. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and Information Systems from Columbia Southern University and is scheduled to graduate in November. She also earned a certificate in cybersecurity in April.

“Being from a small island that truly most have not heard of, I knew I was always going to do something big for myself one day,” she said.

That journey, however, was not always smooth.

In 2023, Miller made the decision to leave Saipan and move to Dallas, walking away from what she described as a good job selling vehicles at Triple J Motors.

The adjustment to life in the U.S. mainland proved difficult, and Miller acknowledged having doubts during her first year away from home.

“I have definitely thought I failed myself during the first year in the states,” she said.

Three years later, Miller is now working for a federal government agency while continuing her studies in cybersecurity and information systems.

Her selection for the FBI Collegiate Academy brings her journey back to the question she asked the FBI on Saipan eight years ago—what it would take to become a special agent.