Washington, D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
August 2, 2021

Joseph Gonzalez Named as Special Agent in Charge of the San Juan Field Office

Director Christopher Wray has named Joseph Gonzalez as the special agent in charge of the San Juan Field Office in Puerto Rico. Mr. Gonzalez most recently served as the FBI’s legal attaché in Mexico City.

Mr. Gonzalez began his FBI career as a special agent in 2003 and reported to the New York Field Office to investigate white-collar crime. He was also a member of New York’s Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team and its Rapid Deployment Team.

In 2006, Mr. Gonzalez transferred to the San Juan Field Office for the first of several assignments in the office. He initially investigated organized crime, international drug trafficking and money laundering, and violent gangs. He was also a crisis negotiator and a crisis management coordinator. Mr. Gonzalez was promoted in 2011 to supervisory special agent of San Juan’s Criminal Enterprise Squad and served as the coordinator for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. In 2012, he became supervisor of the Public Corruption/Civil Rights squad, which was responsible for dismantling networks of corrupt law enforcement officers throughout Puerto Rico.

Mr. Gonzalez was named chief of the Public Corruption Unit in the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington in 2014. He also served as the acting section chief of the Public Corruption Civil Rights Section.

In 2016, Mr. Gonzalez was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Special Operations Branch of the Newark Field Office in New Jersey. As an ASAC, he had oversight of surveillance and aviation operations, human intelligence, security, language services, the undercover program, and several other programs.

Mr. Gonzalez was promoted in 2017 to chief of the Operational Support Section in the International Operations Division at Headquarters, where he had oversight of several units. He was appointed legal attaché in Mexico City in 2018, serving as the primary liaison to the FBI’s Mexican counterparts.

Prior to working for the FBI, Mr. Gonzalez was a certified public accountant. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in 1999.