Dale L. Watson is an American former federal agent. He was the assistant director for the Counterterrorism Division of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, as such he headed the FBI investigation into the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and the

2001 anthrax attacks The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of "United States, America" and "anthrax", from its FBI case name), occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after th ...

Education

Watson is a native of Central

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He graduated from Groveland High School before entering

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1972. After college, Watson was commissioned as a regular

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Infantry Officer where he served five and one-half years.

Early career

In February 1978, Watson received his appointment as a Special Agent with the FBI. He was first assigned to

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, and in 1982 he was transferred to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In January, 1985, he was ordered to FBI Headquarters in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He later was assigned a field supervisory desk at the Washington Field Office before returning to FBI Headquarters between 1991 through 1994 as Chief of the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Unit,

Counterterrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...

Section, National Security Division (NSD).

Move to Kansas City

In May 1994, he was selected as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Division, where he served until June 1996. In this position he played a key role in the investigation into the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...

. Watson was then named as the Deputy Chief of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

's (CIA) Couterterrorism Center where he was instrumental in the successful investigation of the

Khobar Towers bombing The Khobar Towers bombing was an attack on part of a housing complex in the city of Khobar, Saudi Arabia, near the national oil company (Saudi Aramco) headquarters of Dhahran and nearby King Abdulaziz Air Base on 25 June 1996. At that time, Khob ...

in 1996.

Reassignment

In January 1997, he was reassigned to FBI Headquarters as the Chief of the FBI's International Terrorism Section, NSD, where he served until his appointment in July 1998, as the Inspector Deputy Assistant Director of NSD with responsibility for the FBI's Counterterrorism programs. In this capacity he oversaw the international investigations into the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings and

USS Cole bombing The USS ''Cole'' bombing was a suicide attack by Al-Qaeda against , a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on 12 October 2000, while it was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor. Seventeen U.S. Navy sailors were killed and thi ...

Later career and retirement

In 1999, Watson was promoted to be the first assistant director of the newly formed Counter-terrorism Division at FBI Headquarters by FBI director

Louis Freeh Louis Joseph Freeh (born January 6, 1950) is an American attorney and former judge who served as the fifth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from September 1993 to June 2001. Graduated from Rutgers University and New York Univers ...

. In December 2001 Watson was named executive assistant director for counterterrorism/counterintelligence. Watson retired from the FBI in 2002 to join the Washington D.C.–based consulting firm of

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American company specializing in intelligence, AI, and digital transformation. It is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washing ...

Testimony

*September 26, 2002, Watson testified before the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives as the former executive assistant director, counterterrorism/counterintelligence. *February 24, 1998, Watson testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information as the Chief International Terrorism Section, National Security DivisionForeign Terrorists in America: Five Years after the World Trade Center
/ref> regarding foreign terrorists in America.

Quotes

*"I personally think he is probably not with us anymore but I have no evidence to support that." **Speaking of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

at a conference of law enforcement officials in Washington DC on July 17, 2002 *When asked whether he, as the FBI's former counterterrorism chief, knew any of the differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Watson replied, "Not technically, no."

Notes

References

FBI Press Release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Dale Year of birth missing Year of death missing Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Florida State University alumni Law enforcement officials from Alabama Law enforcement officials from Kansas City, Missouri Law enforcement officials from New York City Law enforcement officials from Washington, D.C. United States Army officers People associated with the September 11 attacks