FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office welcomes new Special Agent in Charge

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There is a new Special Agent in Charge leading the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office. He is Raul Bujanda.

SAC Bujanda has been with the FBI since 2002. Before that, he worked on immigration matters and with the Department of Justice. Now, he is leading the FBI in New Mexico.

"I want to make sure that we’re addressing all of our national threats, whether it be on the international side or or criminal threats," Bujanda said. "I want to make sure that we have a good strong criminal kind of approach to make sure we’re addressing those violent offenders. And then lastly I want to make sure that I have a strong relationship within our civic leaders, again, I want to get back to the community as much as I possibly can."

Bujanda did not grow up dreaming of being in law enforcement. In fact, he took an assessment in elementary school that had him thinking about being an astronaut. He later became a math teacher after earning a mathematics degree from the University of Texas.

"I knew that I wanted to be something and someone but I just didn’t know exactly what that was going to be," Bujanda explained. "There was never kind of a linear path to get me to this role. It was just something that I kind of pursued based on my strengths. And, you know, like everything else we always have that great person in our life that kind of points us in the right directions. To me, that was my wife and my wife said, This is great teaching is fantastic. Unfortunately back then and I would say even to this day, teachers are unappreciated as far as financially."

Bujanda looked at different opportunities and eventually became a special agent working in immigration. During his career, he worked in Texas, California, Arizona and now New Mexico.

"I want to make sure that that I’m giving back to community but I’m also part of the community because we’re all part of the community," Bujanda said. "And the second part is want to make sure that we’re pushing the different things that people consider to be important and we’re addressing those threats, because there’s a lot happening out in the city."

The goal is to encourage constant conversation between the FBI and community members so they can address concerns that come up. The department is also pushing to bring more attention to hate crimes, encouraging people to make reports.