Office of the Director
About the Director
Mark S. James,
Director
Director James is a sixth generation Missourian born and raised on a farm in Willow Springs, Missouri. He is married, has three grown children and six grandchildren.
In 1978, he graduated from the 48th Recruit Class of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and served as a uniformed Trooper in Troop D Springfield for four years, then went undercover for the next five years working undercover criminal investigations throughout the state. He was promoted to assistant supervisor of the Narcotic Unit in 1984 and ultimately given the responsibility of creating, then supervising, the Patrol’s first Intelligence Section in 1985.
In 1987, he was recruited as a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), based in Kansas City, where he worked federal investigations on violent street gangs, narcotics traffickers, organized crime, outlaw motorcycle gangs, and domestic terrorist groups. In 1991, he was promoted to Resident Agent in Charge of the Omaha Field Office and supervised a group of Special Agents responsible for federal investigations in the Nebraska and western Iowa. In 1996, he was promoted to Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and tasked with creating the Intelligence Division, for which he became Chief. In 2001, he returned home to Missouri when he was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City Field Division overseeing 16 field offices in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.
In 2005, he was appointed as Director of Public Safety by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and served in that position until 2009. Among his accomplishments in this position were the creation of the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC), the creation of the MOSWIN interoperable radio system, and the Homeland Security structure and processes, all of which exist today.
In 2010, he became Chancellor of the Metropolitan Community College of Kansas City, the fourth largest college in Missouri consisting of five campuses, and a POST-licensed police academy. He established the college’s first professional police department comprised of POST-licensed officers and a state-of-the-art 24/7 dispatch center to provide safety and security for the entire college system.
In 2018, he was appointed United States Marshal for the Western District of Missouri by President Donald J. Trump. He spearheaded numerous law enforcement operations, including Operation Legend (named after a young boy killed by gunfire), resulting in the arrests of hundreds of state and federal fugitives wanted for violent crimes. He also created new fugitive task forces and collaborations throughout the Western District and oversaw the protection of the federal judiciary within the district. He retired from the Marshals Service in January 2022 and focused his efforts on the family farm in Willow Springs.
During his career, Director James earned a Master’s of Science degree in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University in 2001, and completed coursework short of a dissertation for a Doctorate in Business Administration with an emphasis in Homeland Security Studies from North Central University. He also received a Doctor of Laws from the faculty of the University of Central Missouri in 2008 for his life’s work in Criminal Justice.
About the Deputy Director
Troy J. Murdock,
Deputy Director
Deputy Director Murdock was born in Albany, Missouri, and raised in Macon, Missouri, by parents who were both public servants. He graduated from Truman State University in 1989 with a Business Administration - Finance degree. In 1990, he graduated from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Academy as a member of the 62nd Recruit Class. He served in Troops A and F and was promoted to Corporal in 1997.
In February 2004, he entered the Federal Bureau of Investigation New Agent class in Quantico, Virginia. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the Charlotte, North Carolina Field Office, where he worked violent fugitive apprehension, bank robberies, and violent crime violations.
Beginning in October 2007, Murdock worked in the San Diego, California Field Office as a member of a Violent Gang/Safe Streets Task Force. He was named task force coordinator and worked closely with state and local agencies assigned to the task force. In October 2010, Murdock was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) and tasked with overseeing a Domestic Terrorism / Civil Rights task force made up of several state and local law enforcement agencies. In 2012, he transferred to Washington, DC to work in the FBI Counterterrorism Division.
In 2015, Murdock was promoted to Supervisory Senior Resident Agent (SSRA) of the Midland, Texas Resident Office, and supervised the FBI’s first Oil Field Theft Task Force. The task force was comprised of six local and state officers focusing on criminal acts committed against the oil industry.
In January 2016, Murdock returned to Washington, DC to supervise a group of private sector Chief Security Officers from Fortune 500 and Top 1000 companies. This group focused on key information sharing from the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and other federal agencies to address imminent threats to critical infrastructure in the U.S.
In October 2017, Murdock assumed SSRA duties of the FBI’s Springfield, Missouri Resident Office, with responsibility for liaison activities with federal, state, and local law enforcement leaders to address violent crime. He created a Violent Crime Safe Streets Task Force focused on violent criminal acts being committed in the Springfield area. He also worked in the FBI’s St. Louis Division as Violent Crime Supervisor, working to address violent crime before retiring from the FBI in March 2024.