Robert Anderson, Jr. Named Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III named Robert Anderson, Jr. assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters. He has served as the division’s deputy assistant director of operations since 2011.

Mr. Anderson became a special agent in 1995 and was assigned to the Washington Field Office (WFO), where he investigated narcotics and violent crimes. In 1997, he transferred to the Hostage Rescue Team, where he completed deployments to more than 20 countries.

In 2001, Mr. Anderson became a supervisor in the Counterintelligence Division with oversight responsibility for counterintelligence and espionage investigations. He coordinated several major espionage cases that involved the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons laboratories. Mr. Anderson also managed the program that placed FBI agents in Department of Energy labs.

As a unit chief, he oversaw the management of nuclear proliferation and espionage investigations. He supervised the Phillip Cheng investigation in the San Francisco Division, which led to numerous cases being opened and the arrests of 16 people for dual-use technology transfers.

Mr. Anderson returned to WFO in 2004, first as the supervisor of its global foreign counterintelligence squad and later as the supervisor of one of its espionage squads. In 2007, Mr. Anderson was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Counterespionage Branch at WFO. In this role, he oversaw the indictment and arrest of multiple defendants for espionage and related offenses, including an investigation that resulted in the first arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of a U.S. citizen committing espionage on behalf of China.

Mr. Anderson returned to Headquarters in 2008 to serve as chief of the Counterespionage Section. During the next year, he led the Harold James Nicholson/Nathan Nicholson espionage investigation, which resulted in the re-arrest and prosecution of Nicholson and his son for espionage. Mr. Anderson also detailed for three months in 2009 as the acting special agent in charge of the Albuquerque Division.

He returned to WFO in 2010 as the special agent in charge of its Intelligence Division. Before he joined the FBI, Mr. Anderson served as a Delaware State Trooper for nearly nine years. He served in the uniform patrol division, the criminal investigative unit, and the aviation section. Mr. Anderson is a pilot and paramedic and in 1990 was named the Delaware State Police Trooper of the Year—the force’s highest honor—for attempting to rescue individuals who were trapped in a burning home in 1989.