Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Seal of the FBI
Flag of the FBI
Incumbent Dan Bongino since March 17, 2025
Reports to	Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Appointer	Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Inaugural holder	Clyde Tolson (BOI)
Formation	1930 (as Associate Director)
Deputy	Associate Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (formerly known as the associate director) is a senior United States government position in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The office is second in command to the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If the director is absent or the position is vacant, the deputy director automatically takes on the additional title and role of acting director. The office is also the highest position attainable within the FBI without being appointed by the president of the United States. Responsibilities as deputy director include assisting the director and leading prominent investigations. All other FBI executives and special agents in charge report to the director through the deputy director. From 1978 to 1987, the position of deputy director was not filled due to William Hedgcock Webster's decision to divide the deputy's responsibility between three positions.

Deputy directors

No.	Portrait	Officeholder	Term		Director	President
			Start	End
1		Clyde Tolson	1930	May 2, 1972	J. Edgar Hoover	Herbert Hoover
						Franklin D. Roosevelt
						Harry S. Truman
						Dwight D. Eisenhower
						John F. Kennedy
						Lyndon B. Johnson
						Richard Nixon
2		Mark Felt	May 3, 1972	June 22, 1973	Vacant	Richard Nixon
3		James B. Adams	June 22, 1973	February 5, 1978	Clarence M. Kelley	Richard Nixon
						Gerald Ford
						Jimmy Carter
4			April 6, 1978	May 11, 1979	William H. Webster
5		Floyd I. Clarke	May 11, 1979	July 19, 1993
						Ronald Reagan
					William S. Sessions	George H. W. Bush
						Bill Clinton
6		David G. Binney	February 1994	December 1994	Louis Freeh
7		Larry A. Potts	February 1995	May 2, 1995
			May 2, 1995	July 14, 1995
8		Weldon L. Kennedy	August 8, 1995	February 1997
9		William J. Esposito	February 28, 1997	September 30, 1997 [1]
10		Robert M. Bryant [2]	October 1, 1997	October 31, 1999
11		Thomas J. Pickard	November 1, 1999	November 30, 2001 [3]
		Thomas J. Pickard			Robert Mueller	George W. Bush
12		Bruce J. Gebhardt	2002	2004
13		John S. Pistole	October 1, 2004	May 17, 2010
						Barack Obama
14		Timothy P. Murphy	July 8, 2010	August 31, 2011
15		Sean M. Joyce	September 1, 2011	November 30, 2013
					James Comey
16		Mark F. Giuliano	December 1, 2013	February 1, 2016
17		Andrew McCabe	February 1, 2016 [4]	January 29, 2018 [5]
						Donald Trump
					Christopher A. Wray
18		David Bowdich	January 29, 2018	April 13, 2018
			April 13, 2018	February 1, 2021
			February 1, 2021
19		Paul Abbate		January 20, 2025		Joe Biden
–		Robert Kissane Acting	January 20, 2025	March 17, 2025	Kash Patel	Donald Trump
20		Dan Bongino	March 17, 2025	Incumbent

Fictional deputy directors

• Alvin Kersh, the deputy director of the FBI on The X-Files .
• Avery Ryan, the deputy director of the FBI and the director of the FBI's Cyber division. She is the protagonist of CSI: Cyber .
• Miranda Shaw, the deputy director of the FBI on Quantico .
• Owen Hall, the deputy director of the FBI on Quantico .
• Gordon Cole, the deputy director of the FBI on Twin Peaks .
• Victor Fitzgerald, deputy director of the FBI on Without a Trace .
• Jason Atwood, the deputy director of the FBI on Designated Survivor .
• Douglas Bailey, the deputy director of the FBI on Criminal Minds .
• Harold Cooper, the deputy director of the FBI on The Blacklist .

References

1. Johnston, David (September 11, 1997). "No. 2 Man at F.B.I., Important Manager, Retires This Month". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2018– via NYTimes.com.
2. "Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20 - ROBERT M. BRYANT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FED". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
3. "FBI Deputy Director Thomas J. Pickard Announces his Retirement" (Press release). FBI. Archived from the original on May 22, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
4. "Andrew G. McCabe Named Deputy Director of the FBI" (Press release). Federal Bureau of Investigation. January 29, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
5. Pramuk, Jacob (January 29, 2018). "FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, frequent target of Trump's ire, steps down: NBC News". CNBC . Retrieved January 29, 2018.