Paul A. Higdon
Managing Director, International Investigations

Professional Experience

Paul Higdon, the former Director of Criminal Intelligence of INTERPOL, brings to our team extensive experience in criminal investigations and intelligence collection from around the world. As International Investigations Director, Mr. Higdon manages and directs much of the international investigations, asset traces and intelligence gathering projects that Fortress Global Investigations handles for corporations, law firms and individuals. His twenty-seven year career with the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) and its predecessor agency, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), began in 1969 in Seattle , Washington. Three years later, and in recognition of numerous successful enforcement operations which he planned and directed as the Special Agent-in-Charge of a joint federal, state and local police task force, he was assigned to the agency's office in Marseille, France. His task was to work closely with French police in identifying and eliminating the infamous “French Connection.”

As a result of successes in Marseille, Higdon was assigned to Rabat, Morocco and then to Brussels, Belgium where he served as the technical advisor to U.S. drug intelligence and investigative matters. As Country Attache for drug matters, he served as the government's sole contact with foreign federal authorities for drug investigations and intelligence.

In 1986, after having demonstrated his in-depth knowledge of global drug law enforcement, he was assigned by the D.E.A. to the worldwide International Criminal Police Organization more commonly known as INTERPOL. His task was to reorganize and redirect INTERPOL's drug enforcement efforts and initiatives in order to increase its effectiveness as an international drug enforcement body. Upon his return to the United States in 1989 he was placed in charge of the agency's Office of Inspections. He was responsible for ensuring that all D.E.A. offices and its personnel, both domestic and foreign, followed proper agency policy and procedures. Within less than a year he was promoted to the position of Deputy Assistant Administrator in charge of Foreign Operations. This task gave him direct responsibility for overseeing and directing the operations of seventy D.E.A. offices located in fifty-one countries around the globe.

In 1996, at the urging of the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Mr. Higdon retired from the D.E.A. and returned to INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, France to become the Director of the Criminal Intelligence Directorate, the number two position in the organization and subordinate only to the Secretary General.

His previous high level positions with D.E.A. and INTERPOL, combined with his current active membership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, permit him, to this day, to maintain unprecedented contact with police managers and officials around the world.

Education and Studies

• Seattle University, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Business
• D.E.A. Executive Management
• Harvard University, graduate course on National and Internal Security
• Johns Hopkins University course on Mastering Meetings
• D.E.A. Financial Investigations
• USDA Graduate School Performance Audits

Military

• United States Marine Corps (Reserve) 1963 -1970