Bay Area FBI Chief Gets Key U.S. Post

The head of the FBI’s San Francisco office for the last four years has been appointed to the bureau’s No. 2 position in Washington--and has been serving as acting director in recent days while his boss travels in Asia.

Bruce J. Gebhardt, named executive assistant FBI director for criminal investigations and cyber crime on Feb. 27, will serve as acting director of the FBI whenever Director Robert Mueller is out of the country.

Mueller was named U.S. attorney in San Francisco in 1999 and served in that position for two years, working with Gebhardt on major criminal investigations in Northern California.

FBI agents said Gebhardt’s promotion gives Mueller, who took over the top job seven months ago, a trusted right-hand man as he carries out a promised FBI management overhaul while helping to lead the war on terrorism.

“Mueller admired Bruce when they were both in San Francisco and working some major fraud cases together,” said Andy Black, FBI spokesman in San Francisco. “He’s getting a guy he knows he can trust to use common sense and make sound decisions during a very critical time.”

Gebhardt, 54, has been an FBI agent for 27 years, many of those in California between assignments in Washington. In 1978, he was assigned to an organized crime squad in San Francisco, later supervised drug investigations in Los Angeles, and helped lead the Unabomber task force set up in San Francisco in 1993.

“I worked with Bruce as a street agent in L.A. and as a personal friend before he became the special agent in charge up there,” said retired agent John Hoos, a former spokesman for the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

“He is a street agent’s SAC,” Hoos said. “He fights for his troops. He never forgot where he came from.

“He’s a hard-charger,” Hoos added. “He gave it 125% on the streets every day.”

In announcing the promotion, Mueller said he is confident that Gebhardt will keep the FBI “on the cutting edge” of criminal and cyber crime investigations.

Mueller, 56, is out of the country for talks with Asian law enforcement and government officials about the war on terrorism. His trip includes stops or possible stops in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines before an expected return next week.

“I look forward to serving as Director Mueller’s executive assistant director for criminal and cyber crimes,” Gebhardt said in a statement Friday.

“Now is an unprecedented and critically important period in the FBI’s history, as we reorganize and retool to address the multiple challenges in the criminal and terrorism areas.”