Director Christopher Wray has named Robert C. Kissane as the special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division of the New York Field Office. Kissane most recently served as a section chief and acting deputy assistant director in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington.
As SAC, Kissane will also oversee the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force. Kissane joined the FBI as a special agent in 2003 and has spent the bulk of his career in the New York Field Office. He was first assigned to investigate violent crime as a member of the New York Joint Bank Robbery Task Force. In 2009, he transferred to the New York JTTF and investigated terrorist threats to the United States from East Africa. He was promoted to supervisory special agent in 2014 and oversaw those investigations.
In 2017, Kissane was named the chief of a unit in the Counterterrorism Division at Headquarters that focused on terrorism matters originating in the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.
Kissane returned to New York in 2020 as an assistant special agent in charge, responsible for ensuring the office executed its national security mission to defeat foreign intelligence threats and activities.
In 2021, Kissane was appointed chief of a China operations section in the Counterintelligence Division at Headquarters that covers intelligence services, technology transfer, and espionage. He also served as acting deputy assistant director of the division’s China Branch.
Kissane received the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence in the human intelligence program for his role on the team that located an operative wanted for his role in the 2000 USS Cole Attack.
Prior to joining the FBI, Kissane served in the U.S. Army and worked in banking and finance. He earned a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado.
