WASHINGTON, D.C. (KGUN) — The Justice Department and FBI announced Thursday that Operation Not Forgotten 2026 will send a surge of investigative, intelligence and victim‑service personnel to Indian Country, with temporary deployments staged out of 11 FBI field offices — including Phoenix — officials said in a Justice Department press release.
FBI’s Phoenix field office covers the entire state of Arizona — including the counties and Tribal jurisdictions surrounding Tucson — and will serve as the local staging point for the state’s portion of the surge. The FBI’s Phoenix office notes relationships with multiple Indian reservations in the state.
Because the Phoenix office will receive surged investigative, intelligence and victim‑service personnel, Tucson and nearby Tribal communities may expect expanded federal investigative attention and victim assistance in unresolved violent‑crime cases. The Justice Department said the initiative is designed to advance open investigations, recover missing victims, support prosecutions and strengthen partnerships with Tribal authorities — outcomes that directly address persistent public‑safety concerns in Arizona’s Tribal communities.
The fourth year of the initiative, part of the FBI’s broader Operation Steadfast Promise, is focused on unresolved violent‑crime cases in Tribal communities, with priority given to cases involving violence against women and children, including those who are missing or murdered. FBI Director Kash Patel described the effort as a concerted push to bring renewed investigative resources, arrests and case resolutions to Tribal communities long affected by high rates of violence.
“Last year’s Operation Not Forgotten was a tremendous success in delivering the resources long needed in Indian Country, and we are just getting started,” Patel said. The Justice Department said the 2026 surge builds on prior deployments that provided investigative support to more than 700 cases and produced recoveries of child victims, arrests and federal indictments.
Related: FBI Director Kash Patel visits Tucson-area tribes, reaffirms “Operation Not Forgotten”
In February, FBI Director Kash Patel traveled to southern Arizona to meet with law enforcement partners from the Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham nations, saying the gatherings are central to the bureau’s effort to reduce violent crime in Indian Country.
“Great meeting with the Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation LEO partners — key partners of ours in the fight against violent crime all across the country,” Patel wrote on X after the meetings.
Deployment plans list the 11 field offices that will receive surged personnel on rotating temporary duty assignments: Albuquerque, Billings, Detroit, Denver, Jackson, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Portland and Phoenix. The surge will be carried out in close coordination with Tribal law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and federal partners including ATF and the Department of the Interior.
DOJ officials also noted that the FBI currently carries thousands of open Indian Country investigations — underlining the need for continued federal support.
