By Steve Neavling
James “Robert” Brown, who served as special agent in charge of the FBI’s Louisville Field Office since 2018, has been named assistant director of the Operational Technology Division at FBI headquarters.
The division uses technology to beef up the bureau’s intelligence, national security and law enforcement operations.
Brown’s career as a special agent with the FBI began in 2002 in the Miami Field Office, where he initially investigated organized crime and served on the SWAT team and as a firearms instructor.
In 2007, Brown was transferred to the Washington Field Office, serving on the Attorney General’s Protective Detail.
Brown became supervisory special agent in 2009 and later served as chief of the Transfer Unit in the Human Resources Division at headquarters.
In 2011, Brown was promoted to head the Raleigh Resident Agency, a satellite of the Charlotte Field Office in North Carolina, where he led investigations targeting gangs and public corruption, led the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and supervised terrorism investigations and the weapons of mass destruction program.
In 2014, Brown was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Columbia Field Office in South Carolina, where he oversaw the bureau’s investigation of a mass shooting at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston in 2015.
In 2016, Mr. Brown was promoted to section chief in the Criminal Investigative Division at headquarters, where he investigated transnational criminal organizations based in the Western Hemisphere.
In 2017, he became deputy assistant director for the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate.
Brown graduated from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. He also earned a master’s degree in public administration from Norwich University.
Before joining the FBI, he was a deputy sheriff for nine years.
