San Diego, California - FBI Director Christopher Wray has named Scott Brunner as the special agent in charge of the San Diego Field Office.

Mr. Brunner started his FBI career as a special agent in 1995. He was first assigned to the Portland Field Office in Oregon, where he primarily investigated violent and organized crime. He later transferred to the Oklahoma City Field Office, focusing on public corruption. He also served as a pilot and SWAT team operator in both offices.

In 2003, Mr. Brunner was promoted to the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he program-managed the joint FBI/Hungarian Organized Crime Task Force. He transferred to the San Diego Field Office in 2005, where he supervised a strike force that tackled major Mexican drug traffickers.

Mr. Brunner was selected to lead the FBI’s Safe Streets and Gang Unit at FBI Headquarters in 2009, overseeing the FBI’s anti-gang programs. Two years later, he was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of criminal and administrative programs at the Louisville Field Office in Kentucky. He later led Louisville’s national security and intelligence programs.

Between 2014 and 2016, he served as the legal attaché in Bogota, Colombia, before he was named as the chief of the surveillance and aviation section of the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG). He was promoted to deputy assistant director of CIRG in 2018, where his responsibilities included managing the FBI’s surveillance, aviation, unmanned systems and counter unmanned systems programs, behavioral analysis, and the 24/7 command center.

Mr. Brunner earned a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and will receive a master’s degree in unmanned systems from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in summer 2019.