Tom O'Connor

Special Agent (SA) Thomas O’Connor entered on duty with the FBI in 1997. SA O’Connor was assigned to work in the Washington Field Office on the Joint Terrorism Task Force. During this time SA O’Connor worked both International and Domestic Terrorism cases. Prior to entering on duty with the FBI, SA O’Connor was a Police Officer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. SA O’Connor worked for 15 years as a Municipal Officer leaving for the FBI at the rank of Detective Sergeant. As a Police Officer, SA O’Connor specialized in narcotics and violent gang investigations. During a 23-year career with the FBI, SA O’Connor coordinated investigations related to violent criminal actions by Domestic Extremist. SA O’Connor specialized in white supremacist threats and violence. SA O’Connor was the case Agent for numerous incidents including the shootings at the US Pentagon security entrance and the Family Research Council in Washington DC. SA O’Connor became a subject matter expert related to Domestic Extremist threats and traveled extensively training law enforcement and civic groups on these emerging threats. SA O’Connor served as a Team Leader on the Washington Field Office, Evidence Response Team (WFO ERT). In this capacity, SA O’Connor led forensic teams to multiple terrorist attacks around the globe. These deployments include the 1998 Nairobi Embassy bombing, 2 deployments to Kosovo in 1999 for war crimes investigations, 2000 USS Cole attack in Aden Yemen, SA O’Connor was a coordinator for evidence collection at the 9-11 attack on the US Pentagon, the 2002 N17 bombing in Athens Greece, 2006 attack on the US Consulate in Karachi Pakistan, 6 deployments to Iraq and 3 deployments to Afghanistan. SA O’Connor led the crime scene and evidence recovery for the “Blackwater shooting” in Baghdad Iraq. SA O’Connor worked at the crime scenes of both the 2018 Tree of life Synagogue shooting and the 2019 Virginia Beach government building shootings. During his career on the WFO ERT SA O’Connor specialized in Post Blast Investigation and shooting reconstruction evidence recovery. In 2005 SA O’Connor was assigned to a forward operating based in Iraq to investigate hostage takings. During this deployment SA O’Connor was involved in the rescue of US Citizen Roy Hallums who had been held by extremists for 311 days. SA O’Connor has provided instruction on both Domestic and International Terrorism issues across the United States and overseas. In 2004, SA O’Connor was awarded the Department of Justice “Instructor of the Year” award and was named as an FBI “Master Police Instructor” in 2010. SA O’Connor was certified as an Adjunct Faculty member for the FBI Academy. SA O’Connor is a 2011 graduate of the George C. Marshall, European Center for Security Studies, Program on Terrorism and Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany where he continues to instruct as an adjunct professor. SA O’Connor was elected by his peers to the serve on the FBI Agents Associations (FBIAA) National Executive Board for three years, as the Vice President for seven years and President for 3 years, retiring from the FBI on September 11, 2019. This date was chosen to honor the FBI Agents who had passed due to the 9-11 attack and the illnesses related to that terrorist attack. SA O’Connor is currently the Principal Consultant at FedSquared Consulting, providing instruction and consultation on a variety of Counterterrorism topics to both Government and private sector clients. SA O’Connor’s Law Enforcement career has been chronicled in numerous books including Tracy Kidders 1997 “Home Town”, Patrick Creed and Richard Newman’s “Firefight, the battle to save the Pentagon on 9-11”, Kirk Lippold’s “Front Burner” the story of the attack on the USS Cole, Roy Hallums’s “Buried Alive” the story of a hostage rescue after 311 days of captivity, and David Rohde’s “In Deep: The FBI, the CIA and the Truth about America’s Deep State”.