James R. Ives

James R. Ives currently serves as the Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations and Director of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). In this capacity, Mr. Ives oversees DCIS’s senior leaders, investigative operations, and administrative functions.

Mr. Ives possesses 34 years of combined oversight and law enforcement experience, including 17 years of senior executive experience. Before assuming his current acting role, he served as DCIS’s Principal Deputy Director since 2021, and previously as the DoW OIG’s Deputy Inspector General for Overseas Contingency Operations (DIG OCO).

Prior to serving as DIG OCO, Mr. Ives served as Assistant Inspector General for Investigations (AIGI) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Office of Inspector General from 2015 through 2021. Before joining NASA OIG, he served with DCIS for 22 years. Throughout his tenure, he held numerous leadership positions at the DoW OIG, to include Criminal Intelligence Program Manager, Assistant Deputy Director for National Security, Deputy Director of the Investigative Operations Directorate, Special Agent-in-Charge of DCIS’s Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Acting Principal Director of the DoW OIG’s Office of Professional Responsibility, Acting Deputy Inspector General for Intelligence and Special Program Assessments, and Assistant Inspector General for Investigative Operations. Upon departing the DoW OIG in 2015, he received the organization’s Distinguished Career Achievement Award.

Prior to entering the management ranks at the DoW OIG, Mr. Ives served as a special agent assigned to DCIS’s Boston Resident Agency, where he conducted criminal investigations from 1994 through 2004. Subsequent to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he was deployed to New York City for several months, where he assisted with the Government’s recovery and investigative efforts. Upon returning to Boston, he served as DCIS’s full-time representative to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force from 2001 through 2004. As a result of his efforts in Boston, Mr. Ives received several awards for investigative excellence, to include the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency Award for Excellence, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Award for Cooperative Achievement, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Award for Investigative Excellence.

In 2019, Mr. Ives served on a detail assignment as Acting Inspector General of the U.S. Government Publishing Office. In 2020, the Association of Inspectors General designated him as a Certified Inspector General. He served as a special agent with the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service from 1998 through 1999, and served as a U.S. Immigration Inspector from 1992 through 1994. He also previously served as a reserve special agent with the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service. He received an honorable discharge in 2006.

Mr. Ives is a 2005 graduate of Georgetown University, where he earned a Master of Public Policy degree, and a 1992 graduate of State University of New York, College at Brockport, where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology. He is a 2017 graduate of Harvard University’s Senior Executives Fellows program. He is also an adjunct professorial lecturer at American University, and an adjunct professor at University of Maryland’s Global Campus.