James M. Botting

JIM BOTTING was born and raised in Michigan and has lived in Chicago, New Jersey, Georgia, Germany, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Los Angeles and Vietnam (courtesy of the United States Army). He received an undergraduate degree in Psychology and graduate degrees in Police Administration and Counseling Psychology. He retired from the FBI after twenty five years during which he received numerous awards for valor and merit from the Director of the FBI and the Assistant Director of the Los Angeles Field Office while assigned to the Violent Crimes and Major Offenders Program. He has been a street Agent, a SWAT team leader, hostage negotiator, cold case homicide investigator, police chief, security consultant and director of corporate security. He has provided consultation, training and investigative assistance to police officers in Brazil, Guam, Iceland, Mexico, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay, as well as local officers. As a security consultant he worked with business, industry and government regarding the prevention and management of threats and violence in the workplace. He has published articles on kidnapping, hostage negotiation and workplace violence. In 2008 he participated in the Los Angeles Times "Birds of Paradise: An Online Novel Collaboration" by Times readers, and several of his chapter submissions were selected for recognition and publication. His memoir, "Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk, Twenty Five Years of FBI War Stories" was published by Potomac Books, Inc., in November 2008.

Jim and his wife reside in Southern California.