Rice retires from FBI after 25 years

Steve Cornelius, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset, Ky.
·2 min read

Mar. 25—SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Former Somerset resident Dennis Rice retired from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) after a distinguished 25-year career.

In 2021, Rice was named as the special agent in charge of the Salt Lake City FBI Field Office. Prior to that, Rice served as deputy assistant director for the Enterprise Cybersecurity Office at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Rice joined the FBI as a special agent in 1997 and was assigned to the St. Louis Field Office. He worked violent crime, organized crime, and counterintelligence and cyber cases and served on the SWAT team. In 2005, he was promoted to chief security officer and was the information systems security officer.

In 2012, Rice was promoted to supervisory special agent of the counterintelligence and technical programs in St. Louis. He also served as the crisis management coordinator and was responsible for a year-long active shooter training initiative.

Rice was promoted to assistant section chief in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters in 2015. During his time there, he created the first joint operational section between the Cyber and Counterintelligence Divisions.

In 2016, Rice was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division in the Los Angeles Field Office and was in charge of the West Covina Resident Agency.

He was promoted in 2018 to section chief in the Counterintelligence Division at Headquarters and led several successful joint operations with USIC partners, including a historic arrest and extradition of an intelligence officer. In 2019, he was promoted to deputy assistant director of the Enterprise Cybersecurity Office in the Information Technology Branch at Headquarters.

Rice earned a Bachelor of Science in police administration from Eastern Kentucky University. He has also earned graduate degrees in computer resources and information technology and in security management from Webster University in Missouri.

Prior to his FBI career, Rice worked for the Somerset Police Department for seven years.

Rice attended Southern Elementary and Pulaski County High School, where played football for the Maroons all four years. Rice attended Somerset Community College before going to EKU. Rice's parents, Lennis and Doris Rice still reside Somerset.