Susan Knafla, Acting Associate Director, Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate

Experience and Achievements

Susan Knafla was selected as the acting associate director of the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS).

Knafla joined the USCIS Senior Executive Service as the deputy associate director of FDNS in 2021. Previously, Knafla served as chief of the FDNS Intelligence Division, where she advised senior USCIS leadership on significant national security issues and threats. In this role, she also led USCIS’s coordination efforts and information sharing activities between USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security, and the intelligence and law enforcement communities.

Before overseeing the Intelligence Division, she served as chief of FDNS’ National Security and Public Safety Division from May 2016 to September 2018. In 2014, Knafla established the directorate’s Case Prioritization and Intelligence Assessment Branch (renamed the Case Analysis Branch). She directly supported USCIS officers by providing classified vetting operations for all potential and identified national security concern cases. She also oversaw the Section 7 (Public Law 110) and notional visa programs in support of USCIS coordination and processing of special immigration actions for other government and law enforcement agencies. From 2012 to 2014, Knafla served as chief of the directorate’s Reporting Branch. Before joining USCIS in 2008 as an intelligence analyst, she worked for DHS Intelligence and Analysis.

Knafla is a decorated military veteran after serving 22 years in the U.S. Army, where she worked in military intelligence. She is from Mississippi, and lives in West Virginia with her husband Jeffrey and their son Tony.