New York

FBI Appoints C. Bryan Paarmann as New Counterterror Chief in New York — and He's a Man on a Mission

C. Bryan Paarmann became an agent in 1996 but the FBI has been part of his life for years; his father, who was also an FBI agent, raised him after his mother was murdered when he was just 8 years old

What to Know

  • C. Bryan Paarmann assumed his new role as chief of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York last month
  • His goal? Stop the next attack. “One misguided and evil individual – the kind of damage he can do to humanity – that keeps me up at night"
  • Paarmann became an agent in 1996 but FBI has been part of his life for years; his dad, also an FBI agent, raised him after his mom's murder

With ongoing terror threats to New York, the FBI has appointed a new chief of its counterterrorism division for the New York field office to try to stop the next attack.

C. Bryan Paarmann, a 20-year veteran of the FBI and a West Point graduate, took over his new post last month, amid the recent announcement of charges in a New York bomb plot and the trial of the now convicted Chelsea bomber.

As the head of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), Paarmann is currently tracking numerous other threats to the New York metropolitan area.

"One misguided and evil individual –- the kind of damage he can do to humanity –- that keeps me up at night and it keeps my colleagues up at night," Paarmann told News 4 New York. "ISIS has said we don’t care what you attack. We don’t care how you attack. Just go kill somebody."

Paarmann became an agent in 1996, but the FBI has been part of his life for years. His father was an FBI agent who investigated the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi and helped protect civil rights marches throughout the south. Paarmann was raised by his father following the murder of his mother when he was 8 years old. Today, Paarmann carries the same FBI credentials his father carried for 30 years.

“I’m mindful every day of the shoes I have to fill. I went to West Point, was in the US Army and I decided I wanted to continue a lifetime of service to the nation so I decided to join the FBI,” Paarmann said.

During his FBI career, Paarmann has investigated terrorism cases in Colorado and Washington, D.C., and has worked with foreign governments on terrorism and organized crime issues while assigned to Tblilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine.

Now in New York and leading the nation’s largest JTTF -- comprised of several hundred federal, state, and local investigators -- Paarmann is also paying attention to the relatively small but growing number of hate groups across the region.

Paarmann says the JTTF will target any persons willing to use violence to further a social or religious or political agenda.

“Being in the number one JTTF,” says Paarmann, “working the number one priority of the FBI in the most significant city on the planet –- this is where I want to be –- this is what I want to be doing.”

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