New SAC for FBI Houston - Jim Smith

He served as assistant special agent in charge of the San Antonio Field Office, where he oversaw the national security, intelligence, cyber, language services, surveillance, and aviation programs. During that time, Smith deployed to Houston after Hurricane Harvey as part of the crisis management.

Mr. Smith, who comes from a family of law enforcement officers, left the private sector, and joined the FBI as a special agent in 2004. He was assigned to the Los Angeles Field Office, where he investigated drug-trafficking organizations, money laundering,and violent gangs. He also served on the SWAT team and deployed to Baghdad in 2008 to support the FBI’s counterterrorism mission. In 2010, Mr. Smith was promoted to supervisory special agent and transferred to the MS-13 National Gang Task Force Unit in the Criminal Investigative Division at Headquarters.

In 2012, he transferred to the International Violent Crimes Unit to manage international hostage-takings, major crimes, and fugitive matters.Mr. Smith returned to the Los Angeles Field Office in 2013 as the supervisor of the Violent Crimes Against Children Squad. In 2014, he was appointed supervisor of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Squad and oversaw Mexican criminal enterprise investigations, the Compton Safe Streets Task Force, and other violent crime task forces.

The native Bostonian earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Among his many goals as SAC, is the successful recruitment of individuals from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to augment the FBI’s most valuable resource- it’s workforce.