Episode 221: Jean O’Connor – Evidence Response Teams, ERT

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Retired agent Jean O’Connor served in the FBI for 21 years. Assigned to the Washington Field Office (WFO), she worked undercover specializing in drug diversion cases, investigated complex narcotics trafficking cases, and was on the Extraterritorial Terrorism Squad with deployments around the world. Jean was also a member of the WFO Evidence Response Team (ERT) and was named Senior Team Leader, a position she held for 13 years.

In this episode of FBI Retired Case File Review, Jean O’Connor reviews the ERT program, the 12 steps of processing a crime scene and a bank burglary case solved with DNA evidence collected by the WFO ERT.

Following the 9-11 attacks, Jean was a first responder at the US Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, in charge of evidence and victim remains recovery. She led forensic teams to process attacks against the US Embassy in Yemen, in Turkey, and against US Embassy personnel in Beirut, Lebanon. Stateside, Jean has led teams to process numerous “Lone Offender” shooting scenes including the 2009 Holocaust Museum shooting, two separate shooting attacks targeting the US Pentagon, the 2012 White House shooting, and the Washington Navy Yard attack in 2013. That same year, she led a team to assist in the investigations of Boston Marathon bomb attacks, where she played a key role in coordinating Evidence Response Team deployments throughout the investigation.

SA O’Connor is a 2012 graduate of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Program on Terrorism and Security Studies (PTSS) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, where she continues to instruct as an Adjunct Faculty member.

During her FBI career, she also served as a Trustee for the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) Memorial College Fund for eleven years, assisting the children of fallen Agents obtain a college degree. After her recent retirement from the FBI, the FBIAA hired Jean to be their Executive Director. She is also a Principal Consultant at FedSquared Consulting, providing instruction and consultation on a variety of Counterterrorism topics to both Government and private sector clients. She operates the consulting firm with her husband Tom O’Connor who was interviewed with her on Episode 162: 9/11, FBI Line of Duty Deaths and Illnesses and Episode 213: Domestic Terrorism, Racially Motivated and Antigovernment Extremists.