John S. Pistole is a senior member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In October 2004 Pistole was appointed the FBI's Deputy Director, its second in command.

On August 23, 2004 Pistole testified before Congress about changes the FBI made in response to the 9/11 Commission.

Pistole and Valerie E. Caproni were the two FBI officials who approved a memo laying out the FBI's policy on the limits to the interrogation of captives taken during the United States' war on terror. The memo was from the FBI's General Counsel, to all offices, explaining that FBI official were not allowed to engage in coercive interrogations; FBI officials were not allowed to sit in on coercive interrogations conducted by third parties; FBI officials were required to immediately report any instances of suspected coercive interrogation up the FBI chain of command.