Jun 01, 2018
Tom Petrowski, FBI
Middle Eastern & US State of Affairs

Tom Petrowski, Supervisory Special Agent in the Dallas branch of the FBI, oversees the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts in North Texas.

Mr. Petrowski will speak about counterterrorism and what the FBI is doing domestically and internationally toward this effort. Mr. Petrowski defined terrorism as a function of hate. Terrorists find justification of their actions through a deep hatred, letting it become a driving motivator. He also spoke about how the FBI structure has changed since 9/11. After missions were rewritten for our post 9/11 world, the New FBI, as he called it, has been appointed with three primary objectives: they work within a preventive counterterrorism mission; they have undergone intelligence-based restructuring; and there is unprecedented collaboration with other agencies in the United States Intelligence Community. 

Mr. Petrowski got his start in the Army Special Forces, traveling the world and spending much of his time in Pakistan and the Middle East in the 1980’s. During this time he also became a legal advisor for the U.S. Army. He moved to Dallas in 2003 to work for the FBI as a Special Supervisory Agent and among his most noteworthy cases have been working as a senior advisor in the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and preventing, through a sting operation, a planned bombing of the Fountain Place building in downtown Dallas.