Bob Kierstead is a security operations leader with more than 30 years of experience in the government and private sectors. He is currently a security consultant and contractor based in the Greater Seattle area. From February 2014 to January 2019, Bob served as the Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) of the U.S. Secret Service’s Seattle District, where he was responsible for directing all of the agency’s protective and investigative missions in an expansive region that includes Washington State, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, and northern Idaho. As the Secret Service’s top-ranking official in the district, Bob oversaw a multitude of successful protective visits and protective intelligence cases. Many of these visits involved securing large venues for Presidential, Vice-Presidential, Presidential candidate events, and major security events. Additionally, he was selected as the Detail Leader for high profile dignitary visits to the U.S. such as the President of China.
Bob was the founding supervisor of the Seattle Electronic Crimes Task Force (now known as the Seattle Cyber Fraud Task Force – SCFTF), which is renowned for conducting landmark cybercrimes investigations. These include the case of elusive computer network hacker Roman Seleznev, a Russian national whose illicit activities resulted in $170 million in damages to financial institutions, and that of Muhammad Fahd, a Pakistani citizen who schemed to unlock almost 2 million AT&T phones, at a loss of $200 million.
Bob began his career in 1991 as a Special Agent assigned to the U.S. Secret Service’s Boston Field Office. He went on to serve in leadership positions on the Presidential Protective Division (PPD) and the Special Operations Division (SOD) in Washington, D.C., and the Seattle District. Over the course of his career, Bob has overseen complex security operations in 40 countries and in numerous jurisdictions throughout the U.S. In 2019, he transitioned to the private sector, where he managed several projects. Bob developed and implemented a security program for Starbucks’ Chairman Emeritus Howard Schultz during a high-profile public schedule including CNN and Fox News’ town hall events. Bob currently works in a variety of corporate and governmental endeavors.
Bob holds masters degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School (MA-Security Studies) and The Johns Hopkins University (MS-Management), and earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University. He resides with his family in the Seattle metropolitan area.