Though highly controversial when nominated for his role by President Donald Trump and only confirmed by 51-49 votes, FBI Director Kash Patel has impressed in his first five weeks on the job.
Members of Congress from both parties have been heartened by Patel’s energetic response to their requests for FBI records. Patel has also appeared poised and well-briefed in his testimony on Capitol Hill. And at the FBI, even some skeptical agents and analysts I’ve spoken to have been pleasantly surprised by Patel’s early leadership. Patel has thus positively positioned himself apart from the furor over the inclusion of a journalist in classified conversations pertaining to recent strikes in Yemen.
Patel’s effort to provide speedy responses to congressional requests for records is notable. This stands Patel in stark contrast to his predecessor, Christopher Wray, who was widely regarded as slow-rolling FBI records requests. Asked on Wednesday to provide information related to a 2017 attack on the congressional Republican baseball team, Patel promised to send over the FBI’s records by the end of the day. Later in the same hearing, House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) noted that the information had already been provided. Patel has taken to social media to emphasize his responsiveness in this regard. This boosts national confidence in the FBI as an organization committed to transparency and apolitical activity.
The FBI Director is also pushing forward with organization reforms designed to reduce the Bureau’s bloated top-level bureaucracy and drive more decision-making powers down to field offices. If successful, this will boost morale and mission efficacy. However, a key test of Patel’s tenure will rest on whether he upholds his Constitutional obligation to pursue justice without partisan bias. If, for example, we start hearing about FBI investigations not being authorized or prematurely being dropped against Republicans suspected of corruption, it will be a big problem.
Another positive thus far has been Patel’s apparent commitment to adequately resourcing the FBI’s critical national security missions. This matters because it will have been tempting for Patel to throw resources at the Trump administration’s priority counter-cartel efforts. During his House testimony on Thursday, Patel was questioned about the FBI’s counterintelligence efforts to disrupt foreign espionage on United States soil. Patel explained that facing “adversaries like the [Chinese Communist Party], Russia, Iran or otherwise, we have prioritized them as an equally violent criminal enterprise seeking to do harm to our critical infrastructure and also to exploit and steal our data — whether its government or private [data] — and so we have expanded our resources into them and are working with the interagency to make it a priority.” Patel later offered support for new legislation to restrict Chinese purchases of land bordering U.S. military bases.
All of this is important in that the FBI’s counterintelligence resources have been significantly overstretched by very heavy requirements related to Chinese espionage. This has created opportunities for other foreign intelligence services. It has been particularly beneficial in enabling the Russian intelligence services to act with aggressive impunity on U.S. soil. This concern will be further exacerbated by the looming restoration of a full diplomatic presence at the Russian Embassy in Washington. Based on Russian modus operandi, 30% to 50% of the diplomats at that embassy will be Russian intelligence officers. And those officers will not act kindly toward Americans or U.S. interests.
A successful FBI Director must also be able to persuade Congress and the people that they are responsive to concerns over civil liberties. It was good, then, to see Patel skillfully outline his support for the controversial FISA 702 remit (to provide warrantless surveillance of foreign terrorists and spies) alongside a commitment to protect civil liberties. Patel’s balancing act here is valuable in that his credibility with the president’s supporters allows him to consolidate FISA 702 against efforts to dismantle it. Because of the abundant high-value intelligence generated by FISA 702, this consolidation is a top priority for both Republicans and Democrats on the Intelligence Committees.
DEMOCRATS HAVE LEARNED NOTHING ON IMMIGRATION
Patel was viewed as likely to lead the FBI in a wholly partisan direction, using its resources to provide cover for corrupt Republicans and to target Democrats and their supporters. Perhaps Patel will head in that direction. But thus far, we have seen only a prudent and strong start from the FBI Director.
Let’s hope Patel continues his work in this vein.
