By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Paul Abbate, assistant director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, is moving several blocks over to headquarters.
Abbate, who was assigned to the Washington field office in September 2015, will assume the new post of executive assistant Director for the Criminal Cyber Response and Service Branch at headquarters after the presidential inauguration in January.
Abbate jointed the FBI in March 1996 and was assigned to the New York City Field Office, where he worked in the Criminal Division and served as a member of the SWAT team.
In December 2003, Abbate transferred to the Counterterrorism Division as a supervisory special agent in the Iraq Unit, overseeing FBI counterterrorism operations and personnel deployments in Iraq. In October 2005, Abbate deployed to Iraq, serving as senior FBI liaison officer to the U.S. Department of Defense and leading a group of FBI personnel conducting counterterrorism operations in theater, according to the FBI.
From February 2006 to December 2009, he served as a supervisory special agent within the Newark Division’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and in February 2008, he headed to Afghanistan to serve as FBI deputy on-scene commander.
In December 2009, Abbate returned to the Counterterrorism Division as assistant section chief.
In July 2010, Abbate he served as assistant special agent in charge for counterterrorism matters in Los Angeles, and the following year, he returned to the Counterterrorism Division, where he served as section chief. In 2012, he was named special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division. During that time, he also served as the FBI on-scene commander in Libya.
From October 2013 to September 2015, Abbate headed up the FBI Detroit Division.
