Michael B. Steinbach – Executive Assistant Director, National Security Branch

Michael Steinbach was appointed as Executive Assistant Director (EAD) of the National Security Branch (NSB) in February 2016. In this position, he is responsible for ensuring the FBI successfully executes its national security mission to defend the United States and its interests from national security threats, ranging from terrorism to espionage to weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Steinbach began his FBI career in April 1995 as a special agent in the Chicago Field Office Fugitive and Violent Crimes/Major Offenders program. In 2003, Mr. Steinbach was promoted to supervisor in the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters. In this role, he provided program management for FBI operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Afghanistan. 

In 2004, Mr. Steinbach was deployed to Afghanistan and served as the deputy on-scene commander for FBI operations. In this position, he served with military and other government agency partners in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism. From 2005 to 2008, he served as the Legal Attaché to Tel Aviv, Israel, where he worked with the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority on all FBI investigative matters. His team received the Director’s Award for Special Achievement.

In 2008, Mr. Steinbach was selected to lead the Violent Crimes Task Force at the Washington Field Office, where he led a multi-agency team responsible for responding to all violent crimes in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas. In 2009, Mr. Steinbach was promoted to assistant section chief for the International Terrorism Operations Section in the Counterterrorism Division. The following year, Director Mueller designated Mr. Steinbach as deputy director for Law Enforcement Services at the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. 

In 2012, Mr. Steinbach was appointed special agent in charge of the Jacksonville Field Office. The following year, he was named special agent in charge of the Miami Field Office. 

In March 2014, Mr. Steinbach returned to Washington, D.C. to accept an appointment as the deputy assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division, and, soon thereafter, he was promoted to be the assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division. In these roles, he led law enforcement and domestic intelligence efforts to eliminate the risk of terrorism, both international and domestic, to the homeland and U.S. interests abroad.

Prior to working for the FBI, Mr. Steinbach earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1988 and subsequently served as a naval aviator.