The head of the FBI’s New York field office has been named co-deputy director of the bureau, replacing Dan Bongino after his departure, an FBI spokesperson said Friday.
Christopher Raia, who currently leads the New York office after being selected in April, is expected to start next week and serve as co-deputy director alongside Andrew Bailey, the former Missouri attorney general, according to the report.
Raia was picked to run the New York office after serving as a top counterterrorism official at FBI headquarters, the report said. As a career FBI agent, he helped lead the response to a deadly truck attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.
The report said Raia joined the FBI in 2003 and is a former Coast Guard officer. It said his two-decade career included investigations into violent crime, drugs and gangs, along with oversight of counterterrorism and national security investigations.
Raia’s move to the bureau’s top ranks comes after Bongino’s departure from the FBI. The report said Bongino announced last month that he was leaving and that he officially ended his tenure last week.
The New York office Raia leads had its own leadership change earlier. The report said Raia took over as head after his predecessor, James Dennehy, was forced to retire, and Dennehy had been reported to have resisted Justice Department efforts to scrutinize agents who participated in politically sensitive investigations.
With Raia expected to leave New York for the co-deputy director role, the report said no immediate successor was named for him in the FBI’s New York field office.