After two years as deputy assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, John Lewis next month will begin his new job heading the bureau's Arizona office.
"Back there you're kind of sitting on top of the whole kit and caboodle," Lewis said. "Out here is a little bit different. This is where the army and the soldiers are. This is where the work gets done."
Lewis has been named to replace Jana Monroe, who retired this past winter as special agent in charge at the Phoenix office. In Washington, Lewis dealt with White House staffers, worked with other intelligence agencies and testified at congressional hearings. During a meeting of the Senate Banking Committee, for example, he explained how Sept. 11 terrorists used regular financial institutions and standard fund transfers to bankroll their attack without raising suspicion.
The 49-year-old FBI veteran says al-Qaida has been rendered "somewhat dysfunctional" in the past five years and says he is optimistic about the United States' ability to counter terrorism after working from a big-picture vantage.
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Nevertheless, he added, "There is no doubt that we have an international terrorism population that would very much like to deliver to this country another 9/11-type event."
When he starts work in Phoenix early next month, Lewis will focus on developing a team approach with other law enforcement agencies.
"One of the most important things to me is the interaction, collaboration and exchange that the FBI agents will have with local, county and state counterparts," he said.
He sounded that same theme in Washington last year, warning the House Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks about "the catastrophic consequences that would result if a nuclear device were detonated."
"No one agency can protect America from every threat, especially a threat as complex as a nuclear incident," he declared. "We must combine our expertise."
Lewis said that collaboration must include federal Homeland Security agents trying to secure a "porous border" with Mexico. He recalls working as second-in-command of the FBI office in San Antonio a decade ago, worrying that "you can smuggle anybody across," including potential terrorists.
He also became familiar with border-corruption cases in Texas and, more recently, as special agent in charge of the bureau's Oklahoma office from 2002-04.
In Oklahoma, Lewis oversaw a spinoff of Arizona's Operation Lively Green, the FBI sting that snared about 50 military personnel, law officers, prison guards and other officials who took bribes from agents posing as drug smugglers.
"It's a sad case," Lewis said. "It points to how the dollar sign can corrupt people. But, at the same time, isn't it nice to see how our service can go in and clean things up?"
Raised in Vermont with two neighbors who were FBI agents, Lewis said that being a federal agent is the only career he ever considered. He recalled sitting on the front stoop listening as the neighbors regaled his father with their crime-fighting escapades.
By the time he was a teenager, he had begun picking the agents' brains, asking how he should prepare to become a G-man.
After several FBI assignments, Lewis wound up back at FBI headquarters in 2004. He oversaw the areas of domestic terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and terrorist financing.
With 29 years of FBI experience, Lewis said working with 405 agents and staffers in Arizona represents "a great next stop" in a fulfilling career.
