Speaker

On Nov. 15, 2015, Matthew Emrich began serving as the associate director for the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS), where he leads more than 200 headquarters-based staff who issue operational guidance to more than 1,000 FDNS personnel in the field. In November 2012, Emrich was selected as the deputy associate director of FDNS.

Emrich has more than 25 years of immigration law enforcement and intelligence experience. He began his civilian government career in 1997 as a special agent for the Chicago District of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). While he served in the INS, Emrich’s criminal investigator assignments included the Lake County Repeat Offender Strike Force and the Anti-Smuggling Unit.

Immediately after 9/11, he was detailed to the National Security Unit at INS headquarters and later promoted to a position on the Chicago FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Emrich also served as a supervisory special agent at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to help establish the first permanent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Visa Security Program post.

In February 2008, Emrich headed ICE’s headquarters-based analytic units as a deputy assistant director in ICE’s Office of Intelligence. In the aftermath of the 2009 Christmas Day attempted bombing by al-Qaeda of a commercial airliner, Emrich was selected as the chief of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Threat Task Force, which provided integrated intelligence and operational information to DHS leadership and components. In May 2010, Emrich was selected as the chief of the Intelligence Branch (later Division) in FDNS.

Emrich served for eight years on active duty in the Marine Corps in counterintelligence and infantry. He was also deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, as a contract senior human intelligence analyst for multinational forces.

Emrich has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from Park University, a master’s degree in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University, and a graduate certificate in applied management from the Australian Institute of Police Management. He has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since November 2012.