BOSTON (AP) -- The agent who runs the FBI's Boston office has been promoted to a high-profile post at the agency's Washington D.C. headquarters.
Kenneth W. Kaiser learned Friday that he will serve as the new assistant director of the Inspection Division, The Boston Globe reported. The Inspection Division evaluates and audits the work of the FBI's field offices, investigates shootings by FBI agents and conducts internal investigations into alleged FBI employee wrongdoing.
Kaiser, 50, told the Globe he was honored by the promotion, but regrets being unable to capture fugitive gangster James "******" Bulger since becoming special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office in March 2003.
Bulger was a longtime FBI informant who is wanted in the murders of 19 people.
Kaiser said he'd advise his successor to continue to devote a team of full-time agents and analysts to the hunt for Bulger.
"I didn't even know who ****** Bulger was really when I came here," Kaiser said. "Once you realize how important he is to the office and the community, it's important for the credibility of the FBI to continue to look for him very aggressively."
But Kaiser said he believes he's left the Boston office in better shape than when he came by repairing its relationships with other law enforcement agencies. Those relations were damaged by corrupt FBI agents who protected Bulger from prosecution and helped him escape before his 1995 indictment.
"I really think that in the last 3 1/2 years we've changed the perception of what the FBI in Boston is all about," Kaiser said. "I think the perception now is that the FBI is a team player ... that we really are looking for ****** Bulger, and that the Boston office isn't a corrupt office."
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, who left Boston in August to serve as acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Kaiser sought partnerships with other agencies.
"From the first day he arrived, he's really been a team builder, looking for opportunities to make sure everybody felt included," he said.
Among the high profile cases during Kaiser's tenure: a probe into corruption on the Big Dig and the indictment of Abdullah Khadr, a Canadian national and alleged Al Qaeda operative charged with conspiring to kill Americans overseas.
A permanent replacement for Kaiser has not been named.
Kaiser is an Illinois native and the son of an FBI agent. He joined the FBI in May 1982 after four years as a diplomatic security agent for the U.S. State Department.
Before coming to Boston, he was head of the FBI's New Orleans office.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Kenneth W. Kaiser learned Friday that he will serve as the new assistant director of the Inspection Division, The Boston Globe reported. The Inspection Division evaluates and audits the work of the FBI's field offices, investigates shootings by FBI agents and conducts internal investigations into alleged FBI employee wrongdoing.
Kaiser, 50, told the Globe he was honored by the promotion, but regrets being unable to capture fugitive gangster James "******" Bulger since becoming special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office in March 2003.
Bulger was a longtime FBI informant who is wanted in the murders of 19 people.
Kaiser said he'd advise his successor to continue to devote a team of full-time agents and analysts to the hunt for Bulger.
"I didn't even know who ****** Bulger was really when I came here," Kaiser said. "Once you realize how important he is to the office and the community, it's important for the credibility of the FBI to continue to look for him very aggressively."
But Kaiser said he believes he's left the Boston office in better shape than when he came by repairing its relationships with other law enforcement agencies. Those relations were damaged by corrupt FBI agents who protected Bulger from prosecution and helped him escape before his 1995 indictment.
"I really think that in the last 3 1/2 years we've changed the perception of what the FBI in Boston is all about," Kaiser said. "I think the perception now is that the FBI is a team player ... that we really are looking for ****** Bulger, and that the Boston office isn't a corrupt office."
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, who left Boston in August to serve as acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Kaiser sought partnerships with other agencies.
"From the first day he arrived, he's really been a team builder, looking for opportunities to make sure everybody felt included," he said.
Among the high profile cases during Kaiser's tenure: a probe into corruption on the Big Dig and the indictment of Abdullah Khadr, a Canadian national and alleged Al Qaeda operative charged with conspiring to kill Americans overseas.
A permanent replacement for Kaiser has not been named.
Kaiser is an Illinois native and the son of an FBI agent. He joined the FBI in May 1982 after four years as a diplomatic security agent for the U.S. State Department.
Before coming to Boston, he was head of the FBI's New Orleans office.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
