Leslie Rodrigues Backschies Named Special Agent in Charge Of the Criminal Investigative Division of the New York Field Office
Director Christopher Wray has named Leslie Rodrigues Backschies as the special agent in charge of the Criminal Investigative Division of the New York Field Office. Ms. Backschies most recently served as a section chief in the International Operations Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Backschies joined the FBI in 1998 as an intelligence analyst in the National Security Division. In 2002, Ms. Backschies became a special agent and was assigned to the Los Angeles Field Office, where she investigated domestic terrorism, hate crimes, and weapons of mass destruction. In 2008, Ms. Backschies became the airport liaison agent at the Los Angeles International Airport and served as assistant weapons of mass destruction coordinator and team leader for the Hazardous Evidence Response Team.
In 2011, Ms. Backschies was selected as a supervisory special agent in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate at Headquarters, where she managed WMD investigations. In 2012, she was selected as a supervisory special agent in the Americas Unit of the International Operations Division and served as the program manager of the FBI’s legal attaché offices in South, Central, and North America.
Ms. Backschies was selected in 2015 to lead the new Los Angeles International Corruption Squad as a supervisory special agent, overseeing investigations of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, kleptocracy, international money laundering, and antitrust violations. In 2018, she was named chief of the International Corruption Unit at Headquarters, which included oversite of the FBI’s four International Corruption Squads.
In 2021, Ms. Backschies was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Mission Services Division of the Washington Field Office. She was named section chief in the International Operations Division at Headquarters in 2022.
Ms. Backschies earned a master’s degree in international relations from the University of San Diego and a bachelor’s in political science from the Catholic University of America in Washington.
