Director Christopher Wray has named James E. Dennehy as the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office. Mr. Dennehy most recently served as the special agent in charge (SAC) of the Newark Field Office.

Mr. Dennehy joined the FBI as a special agent in 2002 and was assigned to the New York Field Office to work counterintelligence cases. In 2013, he was promoted to supervisory special agent of the counterintelligence and counter-proliferation squad in New York’s Hudson Valley and White Plains resident agencies.

In 2015, Mr. Dennehy transferred to FBI Headquarters to serve as a unit chief in the Counterproliferation Center and was promoted to an assistant section chief of the center in 2016. He returned to the New York Field Office in 2017 as the assistant special agent in charge over crisis management, recruiting, private sector engagement, community outreach, and several other programs.

In 2018, Mr. Dennehy was promoted to chief of staff to the executive assistant director of the National Security Branch, which is responsible for counterterrorism, counterintelligence, WMD, and Terrorist Screening Center missions, at FBI Headquarters. Mr. Dennehy then returned to the New York Field Office in 2019, serving in several roles, to include SAC of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.

Director Wray appointed Mr. Dennehy to serve as SAC of the Newark Field Office in July 2022. During his tenure in Newark, he prioritized cybercrime, health care fraud, and civil rights violations, to include the steep rise in hate and bias crimes against numerous communities in New Jersey. He also focused on violent crime, partnering closely with state and local law enforcement agencies to target repeat offenders and significantly reduce shootings statewide.

Mr. Dennehy earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Villanova University. Prior to joining the FBI, he served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for seven years