By Steve Neavling
Lyonel Myrthil has been named special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office.
At the time of his appointment, Myrthil was serving as chief of staff to the associate deputy director.
Myrthil joined the bureau in 2008, when he was assigned to investigate violent crime in the St. Louis Field Office. He was also a member of the FBI SWAT Team, a certified sniper, a firearms instructor, a defensive tactics instructor and a tactical instructor.
Myrthil was transferred to the New York Field Office in 2012 and investigated violent gangs and drug trafficking organizations as part of the Safe Streets Gang Task Force.
He was promoted to supervisory special agent in the Counterterrorism Division in 2015, working on international terrorism issues at FBI headquarters.
In 2016, Myrthil became unit chief in the Counterterrorism Internet Operation Section.
In 2018, Myrthil became supervisor of the Joint Terrorism Task Force at the Washington Field Office. He also led the Extraterritorial Counterterrorism Squad and oversaw hostage-taking and terrorism enterprise investigations in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Myrthil was appointed assistant special agent in charge of the Counterrorism branch of the Washington Field Office in 2020. He led the Joint Terrorism Task Force, domestic terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, crisis management/response and airport liaison agent program issues.
Myrthil was appointed chief of staff to the associate deputy director in 2022.
Before joining the bureau, Myrthil worked as a senior tax accountant in Miami. He received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration from Florida A&M University, in addition to a master’s degree in leadership from Georgetown University.
