Owen D. Harris Named Assistant Director of Training Division

Director Robert S. Mueller, III has named Owen D. Harris assistant director of the FBI’s Training Division. Mr. Harris most recently served as a deputy assistant director of the Directorate of Intelligence.

Mr. Harris began his career as a special agent with the FBI in August 1990. He first reported to the Indianapolis Division, Gary Resident Agency, where he worked a variety of programs.

In 1997, Mr. Harris was promoted to the Hate Crimes Unit at FBI Headquarters and served as the national program manager for civil rights investigations involving racial and religious discrimination. He represented the FBI on the U.S. Attorney General’s Hate Crimes Working Group and was instrumental in developing a national hate crimes training program for law enforcement personnel in the United States. He also represented the FBI on the President’s National Church Arson Task Force, which directed investigations into arsons occurring at multiple houses of worship throughout the country.

Mr. Harris was selected as a violent crimes supervisor in the Houston Division in September 1999. He directed multiple task forces focused on gang violence, property crimes, international fugitives, and crimes against children. While there, he led one of the FBI’s largest child sexual exploitation investigations.

In June 2003, he was promoted to assistant section chief in the Counterterrorism Division, where he earned the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence in Management. Mr. Harris was then selected as the assistant special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh Division in August 2005 and directed all counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence operations.

In January 2007, he returned to FBI Headquarters as a section chief in the Directorate of Intelligence and managed intelligence operations in support of national priorities. He was named special agent in charge of the Charlotte Division in February 2009 and, in February 2011, was promoted to deputy assistant director in the Directorate of Intelligence.

A Pennsylvania native, Mr. Harris has a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, Mr. Harris worked as a youth and family counselor for a non-profit organization. He was commissioned as a U.S. Air Force officer and served as a missile combat crew commander and instructor at the 321st Strategic Missile Wing in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Mr. Harris is married and has three children.