By Steve Neavling
Eric B. Smith, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office, has retired.
Smith, a native of Ohio, held the position since February 2019.
He is a 23-year veteran of the bureau.
“I think we have the best leadership and field office in the country,” Smith told 5 ABC in Cleveland.
“One of the things I’m very proud of is the partnership we made with the private sector,” Smith said. “Seventy percent of critical infrastructure in this country sits in the private sector.”
Smith has joined the private sector.
An interim special agent in charge will hold the position until a permanent replacement is appointed.
Smith joined the FBI in 1999 and was first assigned to the Wichita Resident Agency, Kansas City Field Office, where he worked violent crime, counterterrorism and counterintelligence.
In 2005, he transferred to the Counterterrorism Division at FBI headquarters. Three years later, he became a supervisor for the Cleveland Field Office’s counterterrorism squad and Joint Terrorism Task Force, according to an FBI press release. Two years later, he became the FBI’s senior representative to a counterterrorism task force headquartered in Fort Bragg, N.C.
Smith returned to the Cleveland Field Office in 2013, where he was named assistant special agent in charge over counterterrorism and cyber matters and the resident agencies.
In 2015, he took on the role of chief of staff to the FBI deputy director. He later became special assistant to the Director in 2016.
