Special Agent Danielle N. James is the Assistant Director for the NCIS Training and Workforce Development Directorate. AD James leads a team of over 45 Special Agents, Management Analyst, Training Technicians, and Training Instructors. She manages a $7.5M budget to provide basic, advanced, and in-service training programs for NCIS. AD James also oversees leadership and professional growth training for all employees across all disciplines and pay grades in NCIS.
Before her current assignment, AD James served as the Special Agent in Charge of the NCIS Cyber Operations Field Office in Washington, D.C. With a team of over 60 Special Agents, Intelligence Specialists, Computer Specialists, and Program Analysts, AD James was charged with ensuring NCIS conducted counterintelligence investigations and operations in the cyber domain against high-priority threats and threat actors. As a Senior Leader with NCIS, AD James served as the Deputy Assistant Director for Human Capital Development at NCIS HQ. In this role, AD James spearheaded NCIS efforts to maintain a robust and diverse Special Agent candidate pipeline through a sustainable recruitment strategy and proactively screened and hired Special Agent candidates. AD James also served as the NCIS Senior Representative to the FBI National Counterintelligence Task Force in College Park, MD. Additionally, she served as the Executive Assistant for the NCIS Deputy Director of Operational Support.
Further, as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Europe and Africa Field Office, she directed and led NCIS Force Protection Detachments in nine countries. As a Supervisory Special Agent, she oversaw counterintelligence and criminal investigations and operations in Rota, Spain, and Okinawa, Japan. Before joining the supervisory ranks, AD James served at NCIS HQ in the National Security Directorate as a Desk Officer for counterintelligence investigations and operations, at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Field Office, conducting counterintelligence investigations and operations, and at the Norfolk Field Office conducting child sex abuse investigations.
AD James began her Law Enforcement career with the Diplomatic Security Service in 1999, serving in the Houston Field Office, Los Angeles Field Office, and at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia. AD James also completed extended temporary duty assignments in Pakistan, Yemen, Algeria, Afghanistan, Israel and the Secretary of State protective detail.
AD James has a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from The University of Oklahoma and a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Florida A&M University. AD James has attended various courses at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy, the National Collaboration Development Center, the FBI Training Academy, and the Harvard Extension School for Professional Development. AD James is a member of the NCIS Directors Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and is the NCIS African American Employee Resource group chair.