Director Mueller Announces the Appointment of Cassandra M. Chandler as Assistant Director for Training

Director Robert S. Mueller, III, announced today the appointment of Cassandra M. Chandler as Assistant Director (AD) for Training.

As head of training, AD Chandler is responsible for all training programs for new employees and continuing education for the existing FBI workforce. The FBI’s Training Division also conducts advanced training every year for thousands of state and local officers at every level and in multiple disciplines. More recently, training has extended globally, both to extend principles of policing under the rule of law and in recognition of the internationalization of crime and terrorism.

Director Mueller has stated that “I cannot overemphasize the importance of training and its critical role in a changing FBI. As we move into new frontiers, like prevention and cybercrime, and we work with new technologies, training is the key to evolving our workforce and our culture.

“AD Chandler understands the critical role of training in leadership development. I am looking to her to bring our new employees into the workforce with a clear understanding of our changed missions and the technical skills to be successful confronting these new challenges. She will be an agent for change in the FBI.”

AD Chandler said that she intends to continue to encourage interagency cooperation “by expanding joint training opportunities and establishing consistent instructional guidelines with other law enforcement and Intelligence Community training facilities.” She plans to pursue expansion of the FBI Academy’s college accreditation, recruitment of experienced, talented instructors, and encouraging fresh teaching perspectives through the use of a rotating instructor assignment for experienced Special Agents. AD Chandler sees significant benefits for the FBI from instituting higher academic standards for accredited courses, developing critically needed college accredited courses for analysts and other support professionals, and enhancing the FBI Academy Library’s international reputation as a primary law enforcement research center. She is especially excited about the opportunities presented by training hundreds of new Agents who bring to the FBI a broad array of skill sets from computer scientists to language specialists.

AD Chandler, 44, was designated a Special Agent in January 1985 and served in the New Orleans and Los Angeles Field Offices. In 1991, she was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and was assigned to FBI Headquarters Legal Counsel Division and was later assigned as a manager in the Criminal Investigative Division, where she assisted with the development of the Bureau’s health care fraud program. In 1994, she was promoted to supervisor of white collar crimes in the San Diego Field Office. In 1997, she was assigned to the San Francisco Field Office as Assistant Special Agent in Charge, overseeing its white-collar crime and civil rights programs and, later, its National Foreign Intelligence Program, computer intrusion investigations, and terrorism cases. Since April 2000, she has served as a Section Chief in the Investigative Services Division at FBI Headquarters, overseeing the Bureau’s analytical program for criminal and domestic terrorism matters.

AD Chandler holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from Louisiana State University and a Juris Doctorate from the Loyola School of Law in New Orleans. She practiced law with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans and worked as a television news anchorperson, reporter, and talk show host for an NBC affiliate in Baton Rouge prior to entering on duty with the FBI.

AD Chandler and her husband, a fellow Supervisory Special Agent, have one son. She is a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

The FBI has 18 Assistant Directors - 15 who head divisions at FBI Headquarters and three who head field offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC The Assistant Director position is the third-highest currently-staffed position in the FBI, after the Director and the four Executive Assistant Directors.