Source: US FBI
“The FBI has had a strong relationship and collaborated closely with our counterparts in New Zealand for years,” said Director Patel said in remarks July 31. “Expanding the Wellington office demonstrates the strength and evolution of our partnership as we continue to work together to address our shared security objectives in the region.”
The attaché office will investigate and work to disrupt a wide range of threats and criminal activities including terrorism, cybercrime and fraud, organized crime and money laundering, child exploitation, and foreign intelligence threats. The Wellington office has territorial responsibility for New Zealand, Antarctica, Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, and Tonga.
“Our focus here is countering terrorism, countering narcotics, the cyberthreats, and the ransomware attacks that we face in America,” Patel said. He said the strengthened partnership and collaboration will better protect Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders in the region and abroad. The Director also emphasized how the new office can help better address threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The Pacific island countries are critical to bolster the relationship that we have with them through you and the Five Eyes partnerships,” Patel said, “in order to counteract what the CCP wants to do here in this region and has already done.”
About the FBI attaché program
The global network of FBI law enforcement attaché offices has been established over decades through mutual agreements with host countries.
The legal attaché program began in 1940, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt tasked the Bureau with handling intelligence in the Western Hemisphere, amid growing concerns about enemy activity in the Americas. In response, the FBI created a Special Intelligence Service that deployed undercover agents to uncover Nazi spy networks in Latin America. That same year, the FBI opened its first overseas office in Mexico City to coordinate with foreign law enforcement, and by the end of 1942, agents were serving as legal attachés—”legats”—in embassies in Bogotá, London, and Ottawa.
After World War II, as the CIA assumed primary responsibility for foreign intelligence, the FBI’s international role shifted toward liaison and criminal investigations. Though the number of legat offices fluctuated over the following decades, the 1990s marked a period of rapid expansion under Director Louis Freeh, driven by the rise of global crime and terrorism. The Bureau opened offices in key countries like Pakistan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and launched its first overseas task force in Budapest in 2000 to combat organized crime in partnership with Hungarian police.
Following the 9/11 attacks, the FBI dramatically expanded its overseas presence to address emerging transnational threats, establishing offices in conflict zones and global hubs alike. By 2006, the Bureau had 57 legal attaché offices and 13 sub-offices, and in 2009, the International Operations Division was formally created at FBI Headquarters.
Today, law enforcement attachés operate in more than 90 locations around the world, supporting international investigations, crisis response, and major global events—serving as a vital bridge between the Bureau and its foreign counterparts.