You’ve seen the movies. The Director of the FBI sits in a high-backed chair, making world-altering decisions while a mysterious "Assistant Director" stands in the shadows, holding a folder full of secrets. In the real world, it's not quite that simple. If you're looking for just one person to fill that slot, you're going to be looking for a long time.
The truth is there isn't just one. The Bureau is a massive, sprawling machine, and it takes a whole roster of Assistant Directors to keep the gears turning.
As of early 2026, the leadership at the J. Edgar Hoover Building has gone through some pretty massive seismic shifts. With Kash Patel taking the reins as FBI Director in early 2025, the old guard has largely moved on. If you're trying to figure out who is the assistant director of the fbi today, you have to look at the specific divisions because that's where the real power lies.
The Big Names in the Room
The FBI doesn't just have Assistant Directors; it has Executive Assistant Directors (EADs) who oversee entire branches. Think of them as the "super-bosses." Right now, the hierarchy is a mix of career agents and political appointees that has kept D.C. talking for months.
One of the most significant moves recently was the appointment of Christopher Raia as Co-Deputy Director in January 2026. He stepped in after Dan Bongino’s short, let’s say eventful, stint ended. Raia is a career guy—joined in 2003, worked the New York office, knows the street. He shares that No. 2 spot with Andrew Bailey, the former Missouri Attorney General.
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But below them? That’s where the Assistant Directors live.
The Faces You Should Know
- Roman Rozhavsky: He’s currently the Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division. He took over in March 2025. This guy has spent nearly 20 years hunting spies and stopping tech leaks to foreign adversaries. If there’s a "mole" story in the news, Rozhavsky is likely the one managing the fallout.
- Brett Leatherman: As of June 2025, Leatherman is the Assistant Director of the Cyber Division. He’s been with the Bureau for over 22 years. In a world where "Volt Typhoon" and "Salt Typhoon" are actual threats and not just weather patterns, Leatherman is basically the nation’s head digital bouncer.
- Catherine Bruno: She handles the Office of Integrity and Compliance. It’s not the "action movie" role, but she’s the one making sure the Bureau actually follows its own rules, which, honestly, is a full-time job in itself.
Why the "Assistant Director" Title is Kinda Confusing
Honestly, the FBI’s org chart looks like a spiderweb designed by a bureaucrat on a caffeine binge. There are Assistant Directors for almost everything you can imagine.
You have an AD for the Criminal Investigative Division, one for International Operations, and even one for the Records Management Division. When people ask "who is the assistant director of the fbi," they usually mean the person they saw on the news talking about a big raid or a national security threat.
In the current administration, the roles have become more polarized. You have career veterans like Rozhavsky working alongside political heavyweights. It's a "team of rivals" situation that creates a lot of internal friction, especially when it comes to how investigations are prioritized.
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The National Security Branch (NSB)
This is the "heavy hitters" club. The Assistant Directors here report to the Executive Assistant Director of National Security. For a long time, Larissa Knapp held this spot. She was a veteran who climbed the ranks from the St. Thomas office to the very top.
Under the NSB, you have the divisions that deal with the scary stuff:
- Counterintelligence: Led by Rozhavsky.
- Counterterrorism: Focusing on both domestic and international threats.
- Weapons of Mass Destruction: Exactly what it sounds like.
The people in these seats change more often than you'd think. High-level FBI roles are exhausting. Most of these folks are "career" employees, meaning they didn’t get the job because of a campaign donation. They worked their way up from being Special Agents in places like Houston or El Paso, kicking down doors and filing paperwork for twenty years before they ever saw the inside of a DC boardroom.
How to Tell Who's Who
If you see someone behind a podium with a blue FBI backdrop:
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- Assistant Director (AD): Usually heads a specific division (like Cyber or Training).
- Executive Assistant Director (EAD): Oversees a group of divisions (like the National Security Branch).
- Associate Deputy Director: Often the "Chief Operating Officer" of the Bureau, handling the money and the internal HR.
What This Means for You
Knowing who is the assistant director of the fbi isn't just for trivia night. These are the people who decide where the Bureau’s $11 billion budget goes. They decide if the FBI is going to focus more on white-collar crime or if they're going to put all their resources into "Section 702" surveillance and cyber defense.
Right now, with Leatherman at the helm of Cyber and Rozhavsky on Counterintelligence, the focus is clearly on foreign state actors—specifically China and Russia. The "traditional" crime fighting we see in Law & Order is still there, but it's increasingly being overshadowed by digital warfare and espionage.
Actionable Insights for Following FBI Leadership
- Check the "Leadership & Structure" Page: The FBI's official RSS feed and leadership page are updated fairly quickly when a new AD is named.
- Watch the LinkedIn Posts: In 2026, even high-level G-men use LinkedIn. Both Leatherman and Rozhavsky announced their promotions there before the official press releases even hit the wires.
- Distinguish Between Appointees and Careerists: If a name pops up that you’ve never heard of before, check their start date. Career agents usually have a "Class of [Year]" from the FBI Academy at Quantico. Political appointees usually come from law firms or state-level politics.
- Follow the Congressional Testimony: Assistant Directors are the ones who get grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee. If you want to see them in action (and see how they handle pressure), C-SPAN is your best friend.
The FBI is currently in a state of flux. With the departure of names like Dan Bongino and the rise of careerists like Christopher Raia, the "Assistant Director" landscape is more complex than it has been in decades. Keeping track of who holds these keys is the only way to understand where federal law enforcement is actually headed.