Mr. Kowel joined the FBI as a special agent in 2005 and was assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force in the New York Field Office, where he led counterterrorism investigations and criminal cases involving drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, and fraud. Mr. Kowel completed deployments to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2009 in support of the FBI’s counterterrorism mission.

He was promoted to supervisory special agent in 2010 in the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters. In 2011, Mr. Kowel was selected as a unit chief in the International Terrorism Operations Section.

In 2013, Mr. Kowel was named the supervisor of the Savannah and Brunswick resident agencies in southeast Georgia. He oversaw all FBI criminal and counterterrorism investigations and led four task forces across 19 counties.

Mr. Kowel was promoted in 2016 as an assistant special agent in charge in the Los Angeles Field Office. He led the violent gang, transnational organized crime (Western Hemisphere), violent crime, and drug trafficking investigative programs in Los Angeles. In 2019, he was selected as the chief of staff and section chief in the Intelligence Branch in Washington, DC. 

Mr. Kowel graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in political and social thought and earned his law degree from the New York University School of Law. Mr. Kowel served as an assistant district attorney in New York City before joining the FBI. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Creighton University School of Law.