John G. Perren Named SAC of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Branch

John G. Perren has been named Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Counterterrorism Branch. Director Robert S. Mueller, III, appointed him to this position to replace former SAC Michael J. Heimbach, who was recently named Associate Director of National Intelligence detailed to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Most recently, Mr. Perren served as Section Chief of the Countermeasures and Preparedness Section of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate at FBI Headquarters.

Mr. Perren entered on duty as a special agent of the FBI in March 1987. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Newark Field Office, where he worked counterterrorism investigations as a member of the Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). During his ten-year tenure there, he also served on the SWAT Team and as the field office’s aviation coordinator.

In 1997, Mr. Perren was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit, Counterterrorism and Planning Section at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this position, Perren coordinated the efforts of 12 field offices located in the Northeast region of the United States in their fight against terrorism.

In 1999, Mr. Perren was promoted to JTTF supervisor at the Washington Field Office. He was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Branch II in 2001. During his tenure at the Washington Field Office, Mr. Perren expanded the JTTF from nine federal, state, and local agencies to 34 and developed a Command and Tactical Operations Center to coordinate all crisis management for the field office. He also established the Washington Field Office’s first Joint Intelligence Task Force and Field Intelligence Group.

Mr. Perren was one of three on-scene commanders at the Pentagon following 9/11, with the responsibility to preserve the crime scene, coordinate recovery efforts with special military units within the impact area, and ensure the safety of personnel at the scene. From January 2005 to June 2005, he was the on-scene commander for FBI Field Operations in Baghdad, Iraq.

In July 2005, Mr. Perren was promoted to Section Chief of the WMD/Domestic Terrorism Operations Section in the Counterterrorism Division, which provided national program management and support to detect, deter, and defeat acts of domestic terrorism, as well as the actual or threatened use of WMD. On July 26, 2006, the WMD Directorate was created to ensure that proper policies, protocols, and resources were established and deployed to minimize and mitigate the effects of a WMD incident and expedite the FBI's ability to execute its statutory intelligence, investigative, and crisis response obligations. Mr. Perren served as Section Chief of the Countermeasures and Preparedness Section until his appointment as SAC.