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Veteran Of Somalia Mission Leads Denver FBI Office

DENVER (AP) - A former Army helicopter pilot who served in Somalia is the new head of the Denver FBI field office.

The agency announced Monday that James F. Yacone is taking over the field office that oversees Colorado and Wyoming. He succeeds James H. Davis, who retired earlier this year and took over leadership to Colorado's public safety department.

Yacone joined the FBI in 1995 and has led a section of the agency's quick-reaction aviation team. He most recently served as a section chief in the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), which responds to critical incidents and provides hostage rescue.

In Somalia, Yacone was able to land his crippled Black Hawk helicopter in a protected area during a 1993 battle made famous by the book, "Black Hawk Down."

Yacone started his FBI career in Philadelphia before being assigned to FBI's CIRG hostage rescue team and later deployed around the world in support of the war on terrorism. Yacone has also served as head of the FBI's aviation and surveillance branch as well as head of FBI Richmond division's counterintelligence and intelligence programs.

"I look forward to furthering the FBI's longstanding relationships with the communities throughout Colorado and Wyoming, and working with our local, state, tribal, and federal partners to investigate and resolve national security and criminal threats," Yacone said in a statement.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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