Siddhartha Patel, who investigated the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, made head of FBI Sacramento Field Office

April 12, 2024

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Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray named Indian American Siddhartha Patel as the special agent in charge of the Sacramento Field Office in California, April 12, 2024.

Patel most recently served as the section chief in charge of the National Threat Operations Section in the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

He joined the FBI as a special agent in 2003 and was assigned to the San Francisco Field Office, where he worked on domestic terrorism, human trafficking, civil rights, and other matters, and served as the hate crimes coordinator.

In 2007, Patel was transferred to the Los Angeles Field Office to work international terrorism matters. He was deployed to help investigate the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai and investigated high-profile terrorism cases in South Asia.

Patel was promoted in 2012 and was assigned to the Counterterrorism Human Intelligence Operations Unit in the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He managed several overseas operations in high-threat areas, including Syria and Iraq. In 2014, he returned to the Orange County Resident Agency of the Los Angeles Field Office to continue investigating international terrorism matters.

Later in 2014, Patel was promoted to supervisory special agent and served on the Los Angeles Field Office’s Inland Empire Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was the lead supervisory special agent for the investigation of the 2015 San Bernadino terrorist shooting and deployed immediately to assist the Las Vegas Field Office after the 2017 mass shooting.

In 2018, Patel was promoted to assistant special agent in charge in the San Francisco Field Office. He was one of two ASACs over the Criminal Program, which covers financial crimes, intellectual property rights, healthcare fraud, public corruption, and civil rights violations.

In 2022, Patel was named section chief in the Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia. There, he oversaw the National Threat Operation Center, the central intake for telephone and electronic tips from the public.

Prior to joining the FBI, Patel worked for a multinational consulting company, a start-up technology company, and a large insurance company. He earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.