Kerry Sleeper – Assistant Director, Office of Partner Engagement

Kerry Sleeper entered duty with the FBI in April 2012 after serving as a special advisor to then-Directorate of Intelligence (DI) Assistant Director Eric Velez-Villar, supporting the work of the DI’s Interagency Integration Unit. Mr. Sleeper advised the DI on how to integrate and align the FBI’s intelligence efforts with those of other federal, state, local, and tribal information-sharing programs with special focus on fusion centers.

Mr. Sleeper has been engaged in law enforcement and the public safety field for more than 38 years. He enlisted in the Vermont State Police in 1977 and became the first trooper to rise through the agency to be appointed the commissioner of public safety. He held the ranks of trooper, detective sergeant, lieutenant (station commander and Vermont Drug Task Force supervisor), captain (Special Investigation Unit commander, chief criminal investigator, troop commander, and assistant field force commander), major (field force commander), and colonel (commissioner of public safety).

In 2001, Vermont Governor Howard Dean appointed Mr. Sleeper his homeland security advisor. He was reappointed in January 2002 by Governor Jim Douglas. Mr. Sleeper was directly responsible for all aspects of Vermont’s Homeland Security program, including administering more than $60 million in U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants; developing the Vermont Fusion Center and information sharing processes; integrating the National Incident Management System with Vermont’s first responder community; developing Vermont’s component of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (including the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant); and managing international border issues.

Governor Douglas also appointed Mr. Sleeper the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety in 2002. In that position he oversaw the Vermont State Police, Vermont Emergency Management, Fire Safety Division, Criminal Justice Services, and the Homeland Security Unit, consisting of more than 800 sworn and civilian staff with an $80 million budget. Mr. Sleeper reported directly to the governor and was the department’s primary source at the Statehouse for all legislative and budget testimony. He retired from Vermont state government in 2007, after 30 years of service.

From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Sleeper served as a senior advisor to the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE). He conducted the first national baseline capabilities assessment of the national network of state and major urban area fusion centers and effectively coordinated the efforts of the PM-ISE, FBI, DHS, and state and local governments that own the National Network of Fusion Centers. He developed the critical operational capabilities concept for fusion centers in 2010 which DHS implemented as a strategic operational initiative.

Mr. Sleeper has served on numerous national and regional boards, councils, and committees sponsored by a variety departments including the Department of Justice and the National Counterterrorism Center. In June 2011, he was asked to support the FBI’s Interagency Integration Unit within the DI. In April 2012, he was appointed deputy assistant director by then-FBI Director Robert Mueller. Director James Comey appointed Mr. Sleeper the assistant director of the Office of Partner Engagement on February 19, 2014.