By Steve Neavling
Thomas Relford, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany Field Office, retired Wednesday after 25 years with the bureau.
Relford, who was appointed to head the field office in May 2020, plans to return to his home state of Missouri “to enjoy some long overdue family time,” Relford said in a statement.
“I’m incredibly proud of my 25-year career with the FBI, and especially lucky to end it on such a high note as head of the Albany field office,” Relford said.
Relford joined the bureau as a special agent in 1996 at the New Orleans Field Office, investigating criminal and counterterrorism cases. In 2005, he was promoted to supervisor of the Baton Rouge Resident Agency in Louisiana, overseeing investigative programs.
In 2008, Relford became the legal attaché in Dakar, Senegal, where he oversaw investigations in 11 Western and Central African countries and served as FBI liaison to local law enforcement and government agencies. In 2010, he went to Nairobi, Kenya, to serve as legal attaché for three years. Relford was responsible for the oversight and investigative programs in five countries, including the probe into the 2010 World Cup bombing in Kampala, Uganda.
In 2013, Relford was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Kansas City Field Office, where he was in charge of the National Security Branch. In 2015, he led the Criminal and Administrative Branch. He was promoted in 2018 to inspector in the Inspector Division at headquarters, where he inspected investigative and administrative programs of the bureau nationwide.
Before the FBI, Relford served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force for four years and earned a bachelor of science from the University of Missouri and a masters of public administration from Troy University.
“My work has taken me all over the world, but I truly believe I was meant to spend this last year serving the amazing people of the Capital Region, Central New York, Upstate New York, the Souther Tier and Vermont,” Relford said. “Now, especially with the birth of our first grandchild, it’s time to head back home to Kansas City to enjoy some long overdue family time and start our next chapter. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to lead this office and for the partnership I experienced here in Albany.”
