Kendrick Williams to lead Intelligence Division of FBI’s Los Angeles office
By Loren Blinde
April 21, 2014
FBI Director James Comey has named Kendrick Williams special agent in charge of the Intelligence Division of the Los Angeles Field Office.
In this role, Williams will be responsible for ensuring the integration of intelligence throughout operations in establishing investigative priorities. He most recently served as chief of the operational support section of the International Operations Division (IOD) at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC.
Williams joined the FBI in 1988 and reported to the New York Field Office. He served as a special agent bomb technician (SABT) and assisted at crime scenes, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
As a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), he took part in the investigations, arrests, and prosecutions of Ramzi Yousef and Sheik Rahman. In 1996, he was promoted to a supervisory position in the Explosives Unit Bomb Data Center and served as a SABT in multiple investigations, such as the Unabomber, Oklahoma City, 1996 Summer Olympic Games, and 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa.
He became an assistant inspector in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in 2000. In 2001, he was promoted to chief of Domestic Terrorism Operations and oversaw investigations of domestic groups whose members advocated violence and criminal activity. Along with fellow Counterterrorism Division managers, Williams directed the operational response to mitigate and respond to the September 11 attacks.
He served as the JTTF supervisor in the Los Angeles Field Office in 2002 and was subsequently promoted to run the Riverside Resident Agency. He was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Honolulu Field Office in 2008 and was responsible for managing the division’s criminal and national security programs. He joined IOD in 2011 and directed all legal attaché operations and oversaw numerous programs that support the FBI’s legal attaché personnel.
Before joining the FBI, Williams was a public safety officer in Durham, NC, and a special agent of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Davidson College in Davidson, NC.
