Dave Brant is a retired career

Naval Criminal Investigative Service The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate criminal activities involving the Navy and Marine Corps, though its ...

(NCIS) special agent and executive. He served NCIS from 1977–2005, leading the agency as its director from 1997 until his retirement in December 2005.

Background and education

Brant received his undergraduate education at

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. The ...

and a master's degree from

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

. During his time at NCIS, he graduated from the Senior Executive Course at the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Before joining NCIS, Brant was a police officer with the

Miami-Dade Police Department The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), formerly known as the Metro-Dade Police Department (1981–1997), Dade County Public Safety Department (1957–1981), and the Dade County Sheriff's Office (1836–1957), is a county police department ser ...

Career in law enforcement

Brant spent thirty years working in law enforcement, 28 of them at the NCIS, the last 8 years as its director. Senator

John Warner John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 200 ...

, who was himself a former

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

, read a tribute to Brant into the Senate record, when Brant retired.

Accusations of torture at Guantanamo

A twenty-page statement issued on July 7, 2004, describes a series of high-level meetings among the

United States Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary o ...

's most

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

lawyers A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, ...

, that were triggered by reports, from Brant, that the captives being held in the

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ( es, Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by members of the U.S. military) is a United States military base ...

were being subjected to questionable interrogation techniques.

Alberto J. Mora Alberto José Mora (born April 11, 1952) is a former General Counsel of the Navy. He led an effort within the Defense Department to oppose the legal theories of John Yoo and to try to end the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay. Mora is featured ...

's statement contained several quotations from Brant, about Brant's reluctance for the NCIS to be involved with the questionable interrogaStion techniques: In 2011 Brant provided a video testimonial in which he voiced his respect for Mora, his immediate superior, for the principled stand he took as soon as Brant told him about the abuse of the individuals being held in Guantanamo. Brant said Mora didn't seem to even hesistate over whether he should a principled stand to his own superiors. Brant explicitly said he realized that Mora was putting his job on the line with his stand.

Television appearance

David Brant made a brief cameo appearance on the CBS drama '' NCIS'' playing a Special Agent of the same name in the episode "Frame Up" in Season 3. This episode aired on November 22, 2005 one month before his retirement. He is asked by the character Leroy Jethro Gibbs (

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...

) "I heard you were quitting" to which Brant responds "I like to refer to it as a lateral move into the recreational sector...Jethro" to which Gibbs explains to Mossad liaison officer Ziva David (

Cote de Pablo María José de Pablo Fernández, known professionally as Cote de Pablo (born November 12, 1979), is a Chilean-American actress and singer. Born in Santiago, Chile, she moved to the United States at the age of ten, where she studied acting. De ...

) that it "...mostly means fishing and hitting a golf ball".

Post law-enforcement career

After he left NCIS Brant worked as a security expert for the accounting firms

Deloitte Consulting Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

and BDO. While at those firms he was a dedicated fund-raiser for the National Law Officers Memorial Fund. He would eventually leave consulting for accountants to become the executive director of the National Law Enforcement Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brant, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Harvard Kennedy School alumni Indiana State University alumni Bradley University alumni Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents