On April 18, 2008, Director Robert S. Mueller III named D. Keith Bryars, a 21-year veteran of the FBI, to the position of Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Administrative Division in the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Mr. Bryars entered on duty as a Special Agent with the FBI in 1987. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Kansas City Division, where he worked a variety of criminal matters including violent crime, white collar crime and organized crime. In 1994, he was assigned to the Miami Division, where he primarily investigated public corruption and served as the case agent on Operation Green Palm, an undercover operation that targeted public corruption in the City of Miami. Mr. Bryars also served as a primary member of the Miami Division SWAT team.
In May 1998, Mr. Bryars was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent in the Criminal Investigative Division’s Undercover and Sensitive Operations Unit at FBI Headquarters. In that role, he oversaw the development and implementation of undercover operations and assisted FBI and Department of Justice executive management in the review and approval of these operations. Also while at FBIHQ, Mr. Bryars led a team of FBI personnel overseas where he taught public corruption and undercover tradecraft to police officers at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary. In August 2000, he was assigned to the Memphis Division’s Nashville Resident Agency. In Nashville, he was responsible for the Violent Crimes Safe Streets Task Force and supervised all programs and personnel in three Resident Agencies in the territory surrounding Nashville. In 2005, he supervised the Nashville Joint Terrorism Task Force and collaborated with the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security to establish the state fusion center.
In February 2006, Mr. Bryars reported as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) for the Birmingham Division, with responsibility for all FBI criminal programs and Resident Agencies in northern Alabama. While there, he served as On Scene Commander for the North Alabama Church Arson Task Force and several major arrest operations, including Operation Clean Sweep, a gang/organized crime drug enforcement investigation which netted over 350 arrests. In 2007, Mr. Bryars also served as the ASAC responsible for the Birmingham Division Intelligence Program.
Mr. Bryars graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Before becoming a Special Agent, he worked for Westinghouse Corporation’s Nuclear Components Division in Pensacola, Florida. He is married and has two children.
