Welch
Michael S. Welch – Assistant Director, International Operations Division
Mr. Welch entered on duty with the FBI as a special agent on September 6, 1988. Following training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Kansas City Field Office, where he served for approximately seven years. During his tenure in Kansas City, he worked exclusively on the Organized Crime/Drug Task Force and was a member of the SWAT team.
In June 1995, Mr. Welch was transferred to the Organized Crime Section, Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters. In August 1997, he was named supervisory special agent of the organized crime squad in the Miami Field Office. While in Miami, he served as the organized crime program manager and supervised the South Florida Organized Crime Task Force.
In January 2000, he was named chief of the La Cosa Nostra Unit at Headquarters. After serving in this position for nine months, Mr. Welch was selected as the assistant section chief of the Organized Crime Section. In this role, he managed all FBI organized crime investigations and the FBI/Hungarian National Police Task Force in Budapest, Hungary. He served on several international working groups and was the co-chairman of the Cross-Border Forum for U.S. and Canadian law enforcement. In May 2002, he was named acting section chief of the Organized Crime Section.
In November 2003, Mr. Welch was appointed assistant special agent in charge of the Administrative Division at the Washington Field Office. In this position, he managed all support service functions as well as applicants, training, and the protective details for the Director and attorney general.
In September 2004, Mr. Welch was appointed section chief of the International Operations Section in the Office of International Operations at FBI Headquarters. In this capacity, he managed over 75 FBI offices in U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, selected Mr. Welch as special agent in charge of the Indianapolis Field Office in May 2007.
In June 2011, Mr. Welch Welch was named deputy assistant director of the Cyber Division at Headquarters. From March to June 2012, he served as the Cyber Division’s acting assistant director.
On June 15, 2012, Mr. Welch was named the assistant director of the International Operations Division. In his current role, he is responsible for hundreds of employees at FBI Headquarters and 78 locations around the world.
