A new special agent in charge has been named for the FBI’s Omaha Field Office after the departure of its former leader to the Los Angeles Field Office.

Eugene Kowel, a former prosecutor, was named by FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Omaha post. Kowel recently has served as chief of staff to the FBI’s executive assistant director for the Intelligence Branch and as section chief of the branch’s executive staff section at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Kristi Koons Johnson, the former special agent in charge of the Omaha office, was named assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office earlier this month. In Omaha, her outreach efforts focused on crisis response preparedness, creating strong partnerships with private sector and community partners, and enhancing relationships with federal, state and local agencies.

Kowel joined the FBI as a special agent in 2005 and was assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force in the New York Field Office, where he led criminal and counterterrorism investigations, according to an FBI news release. Kowel was to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2009 in support of the counterterrorism missions.

Kowel was promoted to supervisory special agent in 2010 and worked in the International Terrorism Operations Section’s Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters. Kowel became a unit chief in the International Terrorism Operations Section in 2011 and the supervisory senior resident agent leading the Savannah and Brunswick resident agencies in Georgia, under the Atlanta Field Office, in 2013, where he led the Southeast Georgia Violent Crime Task Force, the Child Exploitation Task Force, the Savannah Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Coastal Georgia Safe Streets Gang Task Force.

Kowel became an assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office in 2016, leading 10 squads investigating violent gangs, transnational organized crime, violent crime, and crimes against children. In 2019, Kowel was selected as the chief of staff and section chief in the Intelligence Branch.

Kowel holds a degree in political and social thought from the University of Virgina as well as a law degree from the New York University School of Law.

Prior to joining the FBI, Kowel was an assistant district attorney in New York City.