G DB -

Having known a couple, I can assure you that "they" do NOT typically dress in black, and they would almost never wear ski masks. The typical dress is a reasonably conservative suit, albeit generally in "somber" colors and style.

The sole infallibly indentifiable characteristic that distinguishes Federal (and some other) "investigative operatives" (overt and covert) is their constant wearing of "sun glasses" so that those being observed have difficulty telling exactly where they are looking.

Since many of them spend such a large percentage of their time in "crowd observation" where the "shades" are mandatory, on those rare instances when they appear in public without them, they are immediately identifiable by the "untanned" area around the eyes - giving them somewhat the appearance of a tall raccoon.

John