By Steve Neavling

Eugene Kowel has been named special agent in charge of the Omaha Field Office in Nebraska. 

Kowel began his career as a special agent with the FBI in 2005 in the New York Field Office, were he was assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. As part of the FBI’s counterterrorism mission, Kowel completed deployments to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2009.

In 2010, Kowell was promoted to supervisory special agent, working in the International Terrorism Operations Section, Counterterrorism Division, at FBI headquarters. In 2011, Kowel was a unit chief in the International Terrorism Operations Section.

In 2013, Kowel became the supervisory senior resident agent in the Atlanta Field Office, leading the Savannah and Brunswick resident agencies in Georgia. In addition to overseeing criminal and counterterrorism investigations in 19 counties, he led the Southeast Georgia Violent Crime Task Force, the Child Exploitation Task Force, the Savannah Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Coastal Georgia Safe Streets Gang Task Force.

In 2016, Kowel began serving as an assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, where he led squads investigating violent gangs, transnational organized crime, violent crime, and crimes against children. 

In 2019, Kowell became the chief of staff to the FBI’s executive assistant director for the Intelligence Branch and as section chief of the Intelligence Branch’s Executive Staff Section at FBI headquarters.

A graduate of the University of Virginia with a degree in political and social thought, Kowel received a law degree from the New York University School of Law. He  served as an assistant district attorney in New York City before joining the FBI.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

A former FBI supervisory investigative specialist in Omaha filed a federal lawsuit on Monday alleging her boss treated her as a stereotypical “angry black female,” then ordered her to wear high heels and smile more often, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

Georgia M. Scott, who still works for the FBI and lives in San Marcos, Tex.  is seeking  unspecified damages based on wages lost because of what she says was a discriminatory demotion and transfer to the San Antonio division, the paper reports.

Scott was hired by the FBI in 1998, then promoted to be a supervisory investigative specialist and moved to work in Omaha with the Mobile Surveillance Team in December 2009, the paper reports. She was the only black female supervisor in Omaha at that time, the suit states.

The lawsuit seeks damages for the “harassing and discriminatory actions inflicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the “FBI”) on an AfricanAmerican female employee, Georgia Scott (“Plaintiff” or “Ms. Scott”), and retaliation against her for engaging in protected activity.”

To read the lawsuit click here. 

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

The DEA is establishing an Omaha Field Division, its 23rd division office in the nation.

The division will include Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“In January, DEA reorganized its field divisions for the first time in nearly 20 years. Today, just five months later, we are adding another new field division,”  Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “That’s because we are facing a drug threat today the likes of which we have never seen before—but we are rising to the challenge. The Omaha Division will help us address the methamphetamine and opioid threat in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The people of these states can rest assured that, in the face of an unprecedented crisis, we are taking steps to be more effective and put the traffickers and crooked doctors where they belong—behind bars.”

“This action converts the existing Omaha District Office into a division in an effort to enhance DEA enforcement efforts within the Great Plain states region and unify drug trafficking investigations under a single Special Agent in Charge,” said DEA Acting Administrator Robert W. Patterson.

Randall Thysse

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Randall Thysse, who began his FBI career fighting white-collar crime in Omaha in 1989, will return to the office as special agent in charge, Omaha.com reports. 

Thysse will be responsible for overseeing FBI employees in Nebraska and Iowa.

In February, Thysse will replace Thomas Metz, who retired from the FBI in late November to join the private sector.

Thysse most recently oversaw crime reduction and terrorism prevention for the FBI’s Operational Program Branch of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

Steve Neavling

An off-duty FBI agent’s decision to take a gun into an elementary school in Nebraska has prompted debate about addressing the state’s gun law, Omaha World-Herald reports.

A parent at a Papillion elementary school spotted the gun and asked the school board to clarify the law on plainclothes officers carrying weapons.

Nebraska law, which bars weapons from school grounds, makes an exception for on-duty law enforcement, Omaha World-Herald wrote.

What’s unclear is whether off-duty offices can possess guns on school property.

Now local officials are calling on state lawmakers to clarify the law.