Damning report labels FBI ‘rudderless ship’ under – Latest News
FBI Director Kash Patel is going through withering criticism from an alliance of active-duty and retired brokers and analysts, days after the White House denied media stories that the president is about to fire him.
A troubling new report card on the primary six months of Patel’s management concludes he’s “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, is “something of a clown,” based on the alliance, which in two earlier stories warned about crippling DEI and politicization of the FBI during the Biden administration.
The Patel-led FBI is described within the 115-page report as a “rudderless ship” and “all f–ked up.”
Patel is described by a number of inner sources as inexperienced, with one source saying he “has neither the breadth of experience nor the bearing an FBI director needs to be successful.”
Another source, a self-professed Trump supporter, mentioned Patel is “not very good,” “may be insecure,” and “lacks the requisite experience” or the “measured self-confidence” to be FBI director.
However, an further source described him as “very personable and likable” whereas noting he “created a culture of mistrust and uncertainty among the ranks.”
Some of the heavy criticism stems from Patel’s habits in Salt Lake City after the Charlie Kirk assassination. He is accused of giving “premature public remarks” that doubtlessly jeopardized the investigation, taking credit for the work of different companies when the suspect was arrested, and for yelling and swearing on the agent in charge.
Both he and Bongino had been criticized for “arrogance” and an “unfortunate obsession with social media.”
One source mentioned they need to “stop talking, stop posing, and just be professional.” Another mentioned they’re “spending too much time on social media and public relations” and “are too often concerned with building their own personal résumés.”
The report was written within the fashion of an official FBI intelligence evaluation, analyzing stories from 24 FBI sources and sub-sources, and utilizing anecdotes as an instance troubling themes.
The case of the “medium-sized raid jacket” is one instance.
On Sept. 11, 2025, the day after Kirk was assassinated, Patel flew into Provo, Utah, on the FBI jet however “would not disembark from the plane without an FBI raid jacket,” based on ALPHA 99, a “highly respected” source who has served within the FBI for a number of many years.
“Patel apparently did not have his own FBI raid jacket with him and refused to step from the plane without wearing one,” based on the report.
The crucial report additionally takes goal at Bongino, describing him and Patel as “too often concerned with building their own personal résumés.” Aristide Economopoulos
Jacket Trouble
FBI particular brokers on the Salt Lake City subject workplace busy engaged on the Kirk case “had to stop and ask around to find an FBI raid jacket — a medium-sized one — that would fit.”
When a jacket belonging to a feminine agent was delivered to Patel on the aircraft, he complained that “two areas on the upper sleeves did not have Velcro patches attached.”
Patel wouldn’t go away the aircraft “until he had two patches to cover those areas” so “members of an FBI SWAT Team took patches off their uniforms and ran those patches over to” Patel “at the airport. The patches were then attached to the loaner FBI raid jacket” and Patel “disembarked from the plane.”
Patel “did not make a positive impression,” mentioned ALPHA 99.
The director was “not happy” with the way in which the investigation was going and had earlier “yelled” at Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Bohls, and directed “an expletive-laden tirade” over “perceived blunders” within the case.
Bongino later known as Bohls and apologized for Patel’s tirade, “saying that never should have happened,” based on the source.
ALPHA 99 additionally mentioned Patel “did a disservice to the FBI by breaking with Bureau tradition and norms by taking credit for the good work by other agencies” within the Kirk case and appeared to indicate the outcomes achieved within the investigation wouldn’t have been potential with out” Patel’s “involvement.”
In one other state of affairs on the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., Patel was mentioned to be upset when he heard about a “discussion that took place . . . among a few dozen FBI personnel” about his request that he be issued an FBI firearm.
When particulars of the dialogue had been leaked, Patel ordered everybody to get polygraphs to search out out who had criticized him, based on the source, named ALPHA 95, who’s described as “a highly respected leader [and] person of integrity.”
ALPHA 95 was dismayed by the order to conduct polygraph examinations, which had been needlessly “punitive.”
But, to display the interior resistance going through Patel, the report says “Trump Derangement Syndrome” stays alive and effectively under “left-leaning factions embedded within the ranks of the FBI,” and FBI personnel “openly express disdain” for the president.
One source blames previous recruitment insurance policies, which prioritized hiring lecturers “who were more ‘left’ leaning in their personal views.”
Televisions in FBI subject workplaces are reported to be tuned to leftist channels MSNBC (now MS NOW) and CNN — however not Fox News.
The report, sub-titled “A Pulse Check of the First Six Months” of Patel’s management, will probably be offered to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees this week.
It “was never intended to be a hit piece in any way, shape or form,” say the authors, who requested anonymity to keep away from jeopardizing their positions. “But the anecdotal reporting from FBI personnel skewed 80/20 negative.”
There is sweet information for Patel within the report card. The rollback of DEI insurance policies under Patel is welcomed by a number of sources who say it has decreased the “administrative burden.”
‘Heed the criticism’
One source described immigration raids through which the FBI assists ICE as “overwhelmingly successful.”
“Those individuals being swept up in the raids are criminal and dangerous, not otherwise law-abiding grandmas who have been here for 20 years, as reported by some media outlets,” based on the report.
Another source applauded the truth that “case work and threats are now the priority” and “even most of those assigned to FBI headquarters who are being kicked back out to the field acknowledge the re-prioritization is a positive move.”
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While FBI morale elsewhere remained low, one source reported high morale amongst personnel working in counterterrorism and prison investigation in an FBI Field Office’s Joint Task Force who, “unlike during the previous Administration in the White House” are “completely supported by the DOJ and the FBI Field Office’s respective US Attorney’s Office.”
Another source reported “operational effectiveness has improved because prosecutors are being more aggressive to stay in the Administration’s favor.”
Patel’s firing of a quantity of senior executives deemed complicit in previous abuses was welcomed by one source, however reforms “have not gone deep enough” and “should be brought to the mid-management level.”
The authors say they “would like nothing more than for the FBI” and Patel “to succeed . . . for the Greater Good and the Nation” however “redemption and resurrection of this proud agency will never be achieved unless there is full transparency . . . to expose critical cultural and operational deficiencies.”
They conclude by advising the notoriously thin-skinned Patel and Bongino to heed the criticism in the event that they wish to succeed.
