As part of a seventh-grade school assignment, Eric Smith had to research what he wanted to be when he grew up.

So he read a pamphlet detailing the role of FBI special agents.

“It hit me like a bolt of lightning,” he said.

Now Mr. Smith, 49, finds himself named special agent in charge of the FBI’s Cleveland office, which overseas 40 counties in Ohio, including Lucas and Wood counties.

But back then a potential hiccup to his dream job plunged him into a state of despair.  FBI agents, you see, had to be at least 6 feet tall. The young Smith’s father was only 5-foot-10.

What he didn’t realize at the time, however, was the pamphlet was from the 1950s, and so some of the information was outdated. By the time Mr. Smith was growing up agents no longer had to hit a height requirement — and either way he grew to be six-feet tall — but at the time he didn’t know that. 

So in order to get to six feet, he would hang by his arms from a tree in his backyard.

“So I’m great at pull-ups,” he said. “I can do pull-ups all day long.”

Mr. Smith was named special agent in charge of the Cleveland Division I earlier this month and on Wednesday he shared with media members his back story, as well as some of the priorities he bring to northern Ohio.

Originally from London, Ohio, Mr. Smith served in the U.S. Army before joining the FBI in 1999, and much of his career has been what he envisioned as a young boy.

His goals for the Cleveland office are to focus on doing the kind of investigative work that leads to solid cases and convictions. He also wants to emphasize the partnerships between the FBI, other law enforcement agencies and members of the community, and practice the sort of predictive thinking that can prevent violence before it happens.

“We can’t stay ahead of the threat if we don’t think ahead of the threat,” he said.

Before taking the helm of the Cleveland office, Mr. Smith served in Washington D.C. as the special assistant to the director, first James Comey and then Christopher Wray.,He previously served as special assistant to the deputy director, then Andrew McCabe. He began his career as a special agent in the Kansas City field office focusing on counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, and violent crime. He has returned to Cleveland various times throughout his career, as supervisor of the counter-terrorism squad and assistant special agent in charge over counter-terrorism.

He noted that the Cleveland field office is a busy one. There are 981 pending criminal cases and 230 national security cases in the Cleveland division, he said.

Three pending criminal cases related to terrorism stem from Toledo. Elizabeth Lecron and Vincent Armstrong, both 23, were taken into custody in December and are accused of plotting to blow up a local bar. Damon Joseph, 21, also known as Abdullah Ali Yusuf, was taken into custody for planning to attack at least one Toledo synagogue.

In addition to threats of national security, Mr. Smith said he wants his office to focus on investigating and preventing the kind of homegrown terrorism that he believes can occur anywhere. Not just Toledo, or Cleveland, or any of the major cities, but in the rural areas, too. Those types of cases are more difficult to investigate, but they are just as important.

His office, he said, depended on partnerships with other law enforcement agencies and tips from the public about suspicious activity or potentially dangerous individuals.

“We are not simply confined to what we do here in the region,” he said. “We’re definitely looking beyond the borders of our 40 counties.”

First Published February 13, 2019, 11:08 p.m.