A special assistant to the
FBI Director who has been tasked with overseeing the FBI's
reorganization and re-engineering implementation has been
named the bureau's Executive Assistant Director for Administration,
where he will continue to spearhead those efforts.
W. Wilson Lowery, Jr., an
IBM veteran who led a similar effort for the technology
giant in the mid-1990's, will replace Robert J. Chiaradio,
who is leaving the FBI after 18 years for a position in
the private sector. As Executive Assistant Director, Lowery
will build on what Director Robert S. Mueller has called
the necessity for the FBI to be "more flexible, agile
and mobile in its capacity to respond to the array of
difficult and challenging national security and criminal
threats facing the United States."
Mueller has emphasized that
the FBI "must become better at shaping its workforce,
collaborating with its partners, applying technology to
support investigations, operations, and analyses protecting
its information, and developing core competencies." Mueller
said Lowery "brings the right combination of experience
and vision," as well as a "track record of success in
the key areas that allow the transformation of the FBI
into the law enforcement, counterterrorism and counterintelligence
organization necessary to be effective and successful
in the 21st century."
Mueller said about Chiaradio:
"Bob has made great contributions to the FBI, particularly
in the White Collar Crime program, and most recently,
in the critically important area of information technology.
Bob has been key to the development of the Virtual Case
File, which promises to radically improve our ability
to manage investigative files, and he has been an important
part of my overall efforts to improve information management
and technologies in the FBI."
The Executive Assistant
Director position was created by Director Mueller in December
as one of four senior management positions designed to
oversee key FBI functions and narrow the supervisory span
of control and greatly increase efficiency, accountability
and oversight. Mueller, along with Attorney General Ashcroft,
last month unveiled the second phase of the FBI's reorganization
plan, which outlined the FBI's strategic priorities and
set forth the actions and internal changes needed to meet
its top three goals of protecting the American people
from terrorist and cyber-based attacks, from espionage,
and from high technology crimes.
Lowery is expected to assume
his new responsibilities in early July.
#####
