Christopher M. Piehota Named Director of the Terrorist Screening Center

Director Robert S. Mueller, III announced Christopher M. Piehota is the director of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). Mr. Piehota most recently served as the special agent in charge of the Buffalo Field Office, where he oversaw FBI personnel and operations in western New York.

The TSC is a multi-agency center administered by the FBI with support from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The TSC maintains the U.S. government’s consolidated Terrorist Watchlist—a single database of identifying information about those known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity.

Mr. Piehota started his career as a special agent in 1995 in the Newark Field Office, where he worked in the International Terrorism, Domestic Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. In 2002, he was promoted to FBI Headquarters and assigned to the Counterterrorism Division as a program manager for the International Terrorism Operations Section I, which provides oversight for terrorism investigations in the continental United States. Mr. Piehota became unit chief within the Terrorism Reports and Requirements Section in 2003. In this role, he managed the collection and dissemination of FBI intelligence for the U.S. intelligence community.

In 2005, Mr. Piehota was selected as a Counterintelligence Program squad supervisor at the Washington Field Office (WFO). He became an assistant special agent in charge at WFO in 2007 and provided program oversight for the Northern Virginia Resident Agency and the Security Operations and Technical Services branches. These branches support the field office’s counterterrorism, counterintelligence and criminal divisions’ technical operations and activities. In 2010, Mr. Piehota joined the TSC and served as its deputy director for operations. He managed the center’s role in the U.S. government’s 24-hour consolidated terrorist watchlisting, screening, and worldwide terrorist encounter operations enterprises.

He is a certified FBI intelligence officer and an Office of the Director of National Intelligence-recognized senior intelligence officer. He holds U.S. Intelligence Community Joint Duty Certification.

Mr. Piehota holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nova Southeastern University and a master’s degree in human resource management from Seton Hall University. He has a doctorate in human performance improvement from Capella University. Mr. Piehota served in the U.S. Air Force.