Joseph M. Demarest, Jr. is currently the Assistant Director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

's International Operations Division. He is responsible for leading the FBI’s international and overseas law enforcement and liaison efforts.

Previous Careers

Before joining the FBI, Mr. Demarest was a Deputy Sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

 in Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County, Florida

As of the census of 2000, there were 998,948 people, 391,357 households, and 255,164 families residing in the county. The population density was 951 people per square mile . There were 425,962 housing units at an average density of 405 per square mile...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Additionally, Mr. Demarest left the FBI in 2008 and worked as an executive for Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...

 until deciding to return to the Bureau in January 2009.

FBI career

Mr. Demarest began his career at the FBI in 1988 as a special agent. He was initially assigned to the Anchorage  Division, where he investigated white collar crime, drug, violent crime, and foreign counterintelligence cases. In 1990, he was transferred to the New York Division, where he was assigned to a Colombian drug squad. He was promoted to squad supervisor in 1999, and was selected as SWAT team leader. In 2000, he was selected to serve as the drug branch's acting assistant special agent in charge.

After 9/11, Mr. Demarest was selected as one of two shift commanders for the PENTTBOM investigation. In that position, he led an ad hoc task force of over 400 federal, state, and local investigators from over 40 agencies to address the more than 5,500 PENTTBOM-related leads.
Mr. Demarest was promoted to unit chief at FBI Headquarters in 2002, where he served in the International Terrorism Operations Section (ITOS) within the Counterterrorism Division. In 2003, he was promoted to assistant section chief of ITOS. He later served as an acting section chief in ITOS until he was promoted to management positions in the International Terrorism Branch for the New York Division, ultimately becoming special agent in charge for Counterterrorism. He served in that role until early 2008.

In January 2009, Mr. Demarest began serving as the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Division, where he oversaw several major investigations, including the terrorism investigation OPERATION HIGHRISE; the Bernard Madoff case; and the piracy investigation of MV Maersk Alabama.