The head of the F.B.I. office in New York, Christopher G. Raia, is expected to become deputy director of the bureau, taking over the No. 2 position previously held by Dan Bongino. The move maintains an unusual leadership structure that began last year.
Mr. Raia is expected to start in the job as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that had not been made public.
The F.B.I. confirmed the move, declining to comment further.
Mr. Bongino departed the F.B.I. earlier this month after less than a year in the position, and appears poised to return to his career as a right-wing podcaster.
The job of deputy director has been to act as a kind of chief operating officer for more than 30,000 employees. But in August, the Trump administration brought on a second deputy director, choosing Andrew Bailey, who had been Missouri’s attorney general.
Mr. Trump once briefly considered nominating Mr. Bailey to be the attorney general, and during the transition discussed selecting him to be the F.B.I. director. But the president, who likes aggressive personalities, found him too laid back and somewhat lackluster, according to people briefed on the meetings at the time.
At the time, it was unclear whether Mr. Bailey’s arrival signaled Mr. Bongino’s imminent departure. It is equally unclear what Mr. Raia’s arrival means for Mr. Bailey’s future at the bureau.
Mr. Raia was a Coast Guard officer before joining the F.B.I. As an agent, he spent much of his career in Texas, rising through the ranks from investigating violent crime to managing counterterrorism work.
Mr. Raia took over the New York office, the agency’s largest, in March after serving for a year as a deputy assistant director in Washington. Before that, he spent a year as chief of staff to another top official at the bureau.
Even as his selection leaves an unusual three-person leadership structure in place, it is a return to one tradition: having a career agent in the No. 2 post.
It was not immediately clear who would take over the F.B.I. office in New York. Mr. Raia stepped in after his predecessor, James Dennehy, was fired by the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel.
Adam Goldman contributed reporting.
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
The post New F.B.I. Deputy Director Chosen After Bongino’s Departure appeared first on New York Times.
