by
Paul Abbate
Paul Abbate, the head of the Detroit FBI office since October 2013, is returning to D.C., where he last worked for the bureau before coming here.
FBI Director James B. Comey announced this week that Abbate will head up the FBI's Washington Field Office, serving as assistant director in charge. The job is considered a coveted position in the bureau. The D.C. field office is responsible for a host of cases including domestic and international terrorism.
Abbate's exact date of departure has not be determined and his replacement has note been named.
"It is going to be very difficult leaving the FBI Detroit Division and Michigan," Abbate told Deadline Detroit on Friday. "I love the people here and am proud of the tremendous impact we continue to make through our work. I will miss it greatly, especially the sense of community and the many dear friends I've made while here."
Abbate has a law degree from the University of Connecticut.
Before coming to Detroit, he was the special agent in charge of counterterrorism at the Washington Field office.
Abbate has significant experience in the area of investigating terrorism.
In December 2003, he went to headquarters in D.C. where he served as supervisory special agent in the Iraq Unit of the Counterterrorism Division. While in Iraq, his duties included managing FBI counterterrorism operations and personnel deployments within Iraq.
From October 2005 to January 2006, he was deployed to Iraq to serve as the senior FBI liaison officer to U.S. Department of Defense Special Forces components. He also led a group of FBI personnel conducting counterterrorism investigations.
In an interview with Deadline Detroit in November 2014, he was asked what his thoughts were about coming to Detroit.
I had worked with the office in various capacities at headquarters. I had worked with a number of great people who were from this division and from my overseas assignments and with Andy Arena (former head of Detroit office). Detroit was one of those offices that I always thought would be a great place to work. I knew the work was very balanced out here across all of the programs. And it was top notch. I knew also the FBI regarded this office as one of the top offices, highest performing offices in terms of the work, the mission that we do in the FBI. And for all those reasons, it was always on my radar as a destination.
Read Deadline Detroit's Nov. 13, 2014 interview with Paul Abbate
