Director Christopher Wray has named James A. Dawson as the special agent in charge of the Criminal and Cyber Division of the Washington Field Office. Mr. Dawson most recently served as the special agent in charge of the Mission Services Division in the same office.

Mr. Dawson joined the FBI as a special agent in 1999 and was sent to the Milwaukee Field Office, where he was assigned to the Organized Crime and Drug Squad. In 2001, he was reassigned to cover multiple types of crimes out of the Kenosha Resident Agency, a satellite of the Milwaukee office. He transferred to the McAlester Resident Agency of the Oklahoma City Field Office in 2003, focusing largely on public corruption. Mr. Dawson was named supervisory senior resident agency of the Muskogee Resident Agency in 2011, overseeing four offices in eastern Oklahoma.

In 2015, Mr. Dawson was promoted to assistant section chief of the Surveillance and Aviation Section in the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG). As assistant section chief, Mr. Dawson served as the national program manager of the FBI’s ground surveillance program. He was appointed to lead CIRG’s front office—in charge of intelligence, finance, security, facilities, and technical units—in 2016.

Mr. Dawson was promoted to assistant special agent in charge in the Criminal Division of the Washington Field Office in 2017. As an assistant special agent in charge, Mr. Dawson supervised 12 squads, including those that worked public corruption, civil rights, and complex financial crimes. He returned to CIRG in 2018 as the section chief for the Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Section.

He was promoted to special agent in charge of the Mission Services Division of the Washington Field Office in 2019.

Mr. Dawson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a surface warfare officer before joining the FBI.