David Bowdich Named Special Agent in Charge of FBI Los Angeles Counterterrorism Division

Director Robert S. Mueller has named David Bowdich the special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Los Angeles. Mr. Bowdich most recently served as a special assistant to the associate deputy director at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this role, he advised about risk management, personnel, administrative, budgetary, and some operational issues, to include a comprehensive review of the FBI’s counterterrorism training and curriculum materials.

Mr. Bowdich began his career as a special agent in 1995 and was assigned to the San Diego Field Office, where he investigated violent crimes and gangs and served as a SWAT team member and sniper. He led a yearlong wiretap investigation that culminated in the first federal racketeering convictions ever to be brought against street gang members in the Southern District of California.

In 2003, Mr. Bowdich was promoted to FBI Headquarters, where he served in the Safe Streets and Gang Unit. In late 2005, Mr. Bowdich returned to San Diego and supervised a multi-agency gang task force. In this role, he led agents who investigated racketeering and drug cases against the Mexican Mafia, Bloods and Crips, and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club using wiretaps and undercover operations.

Mr. Bowdich became the assistant special agent in charge of the San Diego Field Office in 2009. In this role, he oversaw all non-white-collar criminal violations and the Imperial County Resident Agency and its Joint Terrorism Task Force. He recognized an emerging kidnapping trend perpetrated by Mexican cartel-related criminal enterprises. In response, Mr. Bowdich formalized and initiated the first FBI hybrid squad in the country designed to target the threat posed by the kidnapping cells operating on both sides of the United States and Mexican border. Within one year, the interagency squad constructed a large-scale RICO case against 43 cartel members and associates who operated multiple kidnapping cells in the San Diego region. While in San Diego, Mr. Bowdich also oversaw the murder investigations of two United States Border Patrol agents who were killed in the line of duty.

In 2011, Mr. Bowdich was selected to handle the transition of a new FBI Director given that Director Mueller’s 10-year term expired in September 2011. After Director Mueller received a two-year extension, he was named a special assistant to the associate deputy director.

Before joining the FBI, Mr. Bowdich served as a police officer and detective with the Albuquerque Police Department. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from New Mexico State University and a master’s degree in leadership from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Mr. Bowdich and his wife have two children.