By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Robert Anderson, Jr., is moving up.
Anderson, who has been the deputy assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division at FBI headquarters has been promoted to assistant director of the division.
Anderson joined the FBI in 1995 and was assigned to the Washington Field Office, where he investigated narcotics and violent crimes. In 1997, he transferred to the Hostage Rescue Team, where he completed deployments to more than 20 countries.
In 2001, he became a supervisor in the Counterintelligence Division. As a unit chief, he oversaw the management of nuclear proliferation and espionage investigations. He supervised the Phillip Cheng investigation in the San Francisco Division, which led to the arrests of 16 people for dual-use technology transfers.
Anderson returned to the Washington Field Office in 2004, first as the supervisor of its global foreign counterintelligence squad and later as the supervisor of one of its espionage squads.
In 2007, he was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Counterespionage Branch at WFO.
He returned to headquarters in 2008 to serve as chief of the Counterespionage Section. During the next year, he led the Harold James Nicholson/Nathan Nicholson espionage investigation, which resulted in the re-arrest and prosecution of Nicholson and his son for espionage.
In 2009, he was detailed for three months in 2009 as the acting special agent in charge of the Albuquerque Division.
He returned once again to WFO in 2010 as special agent in charge of its Intelligence Division. Before joining the FBI, he was a Delaware State Trooper for nearly nine years.
