Director Christopher Wray has named Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler Jr. as the special agent in charge of the Chicago Field Office. Mr. Wheeler most recently served as the chief of staff to the executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Wheeler joined the FBI in 1999 as a special agent and was assigned to the Sherman Resident Agency (RA) in Texas, a satellite of the Dallas Field Office. Mr. Wheeler worked a wide variety of criminal matters in Sherman. In 2002, he was assigned counterterrorism duties in the Plano RA of the Dallas Field Office and also served with the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force.

In 2006, Mr. Wheeler joined the protection detail for the U.S. attorney general and transferred to Washington. In 2007, Mr. Wheeler began teaching new agents as an instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He also deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, for several months in late 2009 to work kidnapping matters as a member of the Major Crimes Task Force.

Mr. Wheeler joined the Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices Section of the Critical Incident Response Group at FBI Headquarters as a team leader in 2012. He was promoted to chief of the Counter-IED Readiness Unit in CIRG in 2015 and also served as the chief of the National Explosives Task Force.

Mr. Wheeler was promoted in 2017 to supervisory special agent over the National Capital Response Squad in the Washington Field Office (WFO). In 2018, he led a WFO international terrorism squad focused on the continental United States and Middle East-based threats. He was promoted in 2020 to WFO’s assistant special agent in charge of the Mission Services Division, covering workforce development, applicants, security, and special inquiry background investigations.

In 2021, Mr. Wheeler returned to Headquarters as a section chief in the International Operations Division, focusing on global readiness and legal attaché operations in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia. He became chief of staff in the Cyber, Criminal, Response, and Services Branch in 2022.

Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Wheeler was a special agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.