Thomas Knowles began his law enforcement career in 1975 with the Military Police in Stuttgart, Germany as part of a newly established anti-terrorism security protection team, before joining the Fresno Police Department in California. During the next seven years, Mr. Knowles worked nights in the busiest districts to gain valuable street experience, while finishing his college education during the day, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminology at California State University - Fresno.
In 1985, Mr. Knowles began his FBI career, with assignments in Oklahoma, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Athens, Greece, Kandahar, Afghanistan and the FBI Headquarters Office in Washington, D.C. While with the FBI, Mr. Knowles pursued investigations in violent crime matters such as drugs, kidnappings, bank robberies and organized crime, before transferring to the International Terrorism Division just prior to the first bombing of the World Trade Center Towers in February of 1993. He then continued his work in terrorism matters both living and working assignments in Greece, the Middle East and the former Soviet Republic break-away states, before returning to FBI Headquarters as Chief of the International Operations Section responsible for FBI international offices. He retired from the FBI after managing a joint law enforcement terrorism task force, yet remains actively involved in the fight against both international and domestic terrorists.
