Amy S. Hess Appointed to Lead Science and Technology Branch

Director James B. Comey has named Amy S. Hess executive assistant director of the FBI’s Science and Technology Branch. In this role, she will be responsible for the executive oversight of the Criminal Justice Information Services, Laboratory, and Operational Technology Divisions. Ms. Hess most recently served as assistant director of the Operational Technology Division.

Ms. Hess began her career as an FBI special agent in 1991 and was initially assigned to the Kansas City Field Office. While there, she investigated violent crimes, gangs, and drug trafficking organizations. She was an applicant assessor, a firearms instructor, and a charter member of the Evidence Response Team.

In 1999, Ms. Hess transferred to the Louisville Division, where she investigated domestic terrorism. She also served as the division’s first Joint Terrorism Task Force coordinator and principal firearms instructor. Ms. Hess was promoted to supervisory special agent of the counterterrorism and counterintelligence squad in 2002. In 2005, she was assigned to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as an assistant inspector/team leader in the Inspection Division.

Ms. Hess was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Phoenix Division in 2007 and assigned to the Tucson Resident Agency. She oversaw operational and administrative matters of four resident agencies in southern Arizona. During that time, she was temporarily deployed as the on-scene commander for the FBI’s counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.

Ms. Hess returned to FBI Headquarters in 2008, where she was promoted to chief of the Executive Staff Section in the National Security Branch. She was subsequently named section chief in the International Operations Division and had broad managerial responsibilities in support of the FBI’s domestic and international operations.

In 2010, she was named special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis Division and oversaw personnel and operations in the Middle and Western Federal Judicial Districts of Tennessee.

Ms. Hess is a native of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and she holds a degree in aeronautical/astronautical engineering from Purdue University.