The Chief, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, abbreviated as Chief, IRS-CI or Chief, CI or simply Chief, is the head and chief executive of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the United States' federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating potential criminal violations of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes. Criminal Investigation is a division of the Internal Revenue Service, which in turn is a bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury. The Chief is the highest ranking executive within IRS-CI and reports to the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement of the Internal Revenue Service.
The Chief is appointed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and oversees a worldwide staff of approximately 3,300 CI employees, including approximately 2,200 special agents who investigate and assist in the prosecution of criminal tax, money laundering, public corruption, cyber, ID theft, narcotics, terrorist-financing and Bank Secrecy Act related crime cases.[1]
The current Chief is Guy Ficco since April 1, 2024. He was the Deputy Chief to former Chief Jim Lee, who retired on March 31, 2024 having served in the position since October 2020.[2] Shortly after the announcement of Lee's retirement, the Internal Revenue Service announced that Ficco would be the new Chief of the agency.[3]
Powers and duties
The powers and duties of the Chief are spelled out in the Internal Revenue Manual, Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 19.[4]
(1) The Chief is responsible for the full range of planning, managing, directing, and executing the worldwide activities of CI. The Chief together with the Deputy Chief, directly supervises the Directors of the HQ offices, as well as the Area Directors, Field Operations.
(2) The Office of the Chief includes the following sections:
- Chief of Staff
- Deputy Chief of Staff
- C&E
- EDI
- RPE
(3) The Chief of Staff, together with the Deputy Chief of Staff, manages the Chief and Deputy Chief's official appointments, speaking engagements, calendar items, and duties associated with the selection of senior management personnel. Additionally, the Chief of Staff supervises the Commissioner's Protection Detail which provides daily executive protection to the IRS Commissioner.
(4) Communications and Education plans, coordinates, and produces communications products and tools for CI. Communications and Education provides a wide range of products and services to help achieve communications goals to a variety of audiences; employees, managers, the media, tax, accounting and business professionals, and other external and internal stakeholders. Communications and Education also coordinates field office publicity through the PIOs who are special agents trained in media relations. Communications and Education is also the home to CI's Legislative Liaison who manages and enhances CI's relationship with members of Congress, ensures CI sections are informed of pending legislation affecting their areas, and responds to Congressional inquiries and correspondence.
(5) Equity, Diversity & Inclusion is responsible for identifying trends and issues of an EEO and diversity nature, and potential barriers to equal employment opportunity within CI. Equity, Diversity & Inclusion's responsibilities include educating management and employees on equity, diversity & inclusion, how to resolve complaints and conflict in the workplace, and providing observation on recruitment, outreach, promotion, retention, and leadership initiatives, thereby improving workforce demographics to achieve equal opportunity.
(6) Review and Program Evaluation independently reviews, evaluates, and reports on CI field operations, program areas, and headquarters sections in a fair and objective manner. Review and Program Evaluation identifies risks, emerging issues and best practices which affect CI; assess CI's leadership effectiveness, and ability to manage and mitigate risk; evaluate CI operations to ensure investigative alignment with the Compliance Strategy; and to ensure compliance with established policies and prior TIGTA, GAO, and RPE recommendations.
List of officeholders
The following is a complete list of officeholders from 1919 to present.[5]
| N°
|
Picture
|
Name
|
Term
|
Length
|
Notes
|
| 1
|
|
Elmer Lincoln Irey
|
July 1, 1919 – January 26, 1943
|
23 years, 209 days
|
First and longest serving Chief
|
| 2
|
|
William H. Woolf
|
January 26, 1943 – December 31, 1951
|
8 years, 339 days
|
Former Assistant Chief to Elmer L. Irey
|
| 3
|
|
Frank W. Lohn
|
January 20, 1952 – November 25, 1952
|
310 days
|
Title changed to Director of the Intelligence Division
|
| 4
|
|
Garland H. Williams
|
January 1, 1953 – August 31, 1953
|
242 days
|
Former agent in the Bureau of Narcotics
|
| 5
|
|
A. Walter Fleming
|
December 20, 1953 – August 15, 1955
|
1 year, 238 days
|
Resigned to become Regional Commissioner in New York
|
| 6
|
|
J. Perry August
|
October 18, 1955 – June 30, 1959
|
3 years, 255 days
|
Former Assistant Regional Commissioner (Intelligence) of the Dallas Region
|
| 7
|
|
H. Alan Long
|
June 30, 1959 – December 31, 1965
|
6 years, 184 days
|
Resigned to become District Director in Pittsburgh
|
| 8
|
|
William A. Kolar
|
December 31, 1965 – June 13, 1970
|
4 years, 164 days
|
Former Director of the Internal Security Division
|
| 9
|
|
Robert K. Lund
|
October 4, 1970 – June 30, 1972
|
1 year, 270 days
|
Former Chief in the Los Angeles District
|
| 10
|
|
John J. Olszewski
|
September 3, 1972 – May 9, 1975
|
2 years, 248 days
|
Former Assistant Regional Commissioner (Intelligence), Midwest Region
|
| 11
|
|
Thomas J. Clancy
|
July 6, 1975 – March 20, 1982
|
6 years, 257 days
|
Intelligence Division renamed to Criminal Investigation (CI) during his tenure
|
| 12
|
|
Richard C. Wassenaar
|
March 21, 1982 – December 12, 1986
|
4 years, 266 days
|
First officeholder to be titled Assistant Commissioner (Criminal Investigation)
|
| 13
|
|
Anthony V. Langone
|
February 2, 1987 – April 3, 1988
|
1 year, 61 days
|
Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Criminal Investigation)
|
| 14
|
|
Bruce V. Milburn
|
May 8, 1988 – October 20, 1989
|
1 year, 165 days
|
Former Assistant Regional Commissioner in North Atlantic Region
|
| 15
|
|
Inar "Smitty" Morics
|
December 3, 1989 – January 10, 1993
|
3 years, 38 days
|
Resigned to become District Director in St. Paul, Minnesota
|
| 16
|
|
Donald K. Vogel
|
February 28, 1993 – December 31, 1995
|
2 years, 306 days
|
Former Assistant Regional Commissioner for Criminal Investigation in Midwest Region
|
| 17
|
|
Ted F. Brown
|
May 28, 1996 – April 11, 1999
|
2 years, 318 days
|
First Director of Refund Fraud in 1994
|
| 18
|
|
Mark E. Matthews
|
January 1, 2000 – May 31, 2002
|
2 years, 150 days
|
First Chief that was not a Special Agent or Postal Inspector before being named Chief
|
| 19
|
|
David B. Palmer
|
November 7, 2002 – January 8, 2004
|
1 year, 62 days
|
Former Director of Field Operations for the Central Area
|
| 20
|
|
Nancy Jardini
|
January 9, 2004 – February 25, 2007
|
3 years, 47 days
|
First female Chief
|
| 21
|
|
Eileen Mayer
|
February 26, 2007 – January 31, 2009
|
1 year, 340 days
|
Former prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office
|
| 22
|
|
Victor Song
|
February 1, 2009 – March 30, 2012
|
3 years, 58 days
|
Retired to serve as Executive Vice President of Compliance for Samsung Electronics America
|
| 23
|
|
Richard Weber
|
April 1, 2012 – May 31, 2017
|
5 years, 60 days
|
Recipient of the 2015 Presidential Rank Award
|
| 24
|
|
Don Fort
|
June 1, 2017 – September 30, 2020
|
3 years, 121 days
|
Chief during the agency's 100th anniversary
|
| 25
|
|
Jim Lee
|
October 1, 2020 – March 31, 2024
|
3 years, 182 days
|
Former Deputy Chief and Director of Field Operations
|
| 26
|
|
Guy Ficco
|
April 1, 2024 – Present
|
8 days
|
Former Deputy Chief and Executive Director of Global Operations, Policy and Support
|
