Kash Patel was confirmed as the FBI Director on February 20th, over three weeks ago. Following Patel’s confirmation, the FBI was shaken by rumors of mass firings — a blood bath scenario gleefully heralded by social media hucksters. The rumors were fueled by a poorly written email sent by the DOJ just before AG Bondi’s confirmation.
This sparked an instance of insubordination from an FBI senior executive. The New York Field Office’s (NY) highest ranking official, Assistant Director In Charge (ADIC) James Dennehey, refused to comply with the DOJ’s January 6th inquiry email and ordered NY’s personnel to stand down. Social media posters were apoplectic and forecast a broad rebellion at the FBI with thousands of “walkouts,” mass episodes of “blue flu,” and an enterprise-wide entrenchment of Trump-hating employees, mounting the battlements for a coup in force.
Of course, none of that happened. Much to the chagrin of social media trash-posters, there have been no firings. The FBI’s Senior Executive Service (SES) has, thus far, been purged by a spate of retirements.
The hordes of corrupt, irredeemable, and politicized agents have failed to materialize. The true believers haven’t militated for rebellion simply because they are, by comparison, so very few. But that doesn’t surprise any of us who’ve worked decades at the FBI.
Predictably, the rumors turned out to be wishful thinking on the part of those whose personal acrimony and avarice blinded them to the truth.
One of the most sensational rumors gleefully propagated by professional clickbait farmers was published by Kerry Picket. The “White House Correspondent for the Washington Times” alleged former Director James Comey directed an “off the books” honeypot operation against Donald Trump’s associates—a claim absurd on its face to anyone with any real knowledge of FBI operations and policies. In short, Picket claimed “unnamed sources” (because unnamed sources have become the stock-in-trade of social media journalists) said that female FBI agents were tasked to ply people in Trump’s orbit with sex to gain derogatory information. Ridiculous. Director Patel investigated and debunked the “honeypot” story. However, Picket (as of this writing) still features the discredited story on her X account.
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Something FBI Director Kash Patel has been very good at is his intelligent use of social media to provide transparency AND to highlight the essential work the good men and women of the FBI do everyday. Patel’s motto of “letting good cops be good cops” is manifested in the steady stream of arrests and interdictions featured on his social media. His use of X and Instagram to message and provide transparency directly to the American people is nothing short of revolutionary. No previous FBI Director has communicated directly outside of FBI official channels in this way.
Gone are the days of stodgy congressional inquiries stonewalled by an uncooperative and opaque director, responding sardonically, “I cannot speak on matters currently under investigation” — the bureaucratic equivalent to “I plead the fifth.”
But, despite the tangible efforts at transparency, the FBI derangement mill keeps grinding. The Epstein files can’t be processed fast enough, despite AG Bondi and Director Patel’s personal involvement. If the case is anything as complex as the Oklahoma City Bombing, it could be comprised of millions of documents. It may be a while before the conspiracy theorists have some new material to hawk.
Completely unsubstantiated rumors like “Director Patel is seeking to hire private security instead of his FBI Director’s Detail because he doesn’t trust them.” Or,
“Director Patel is installing a direct line to the President to circumvent the Attorney General” have all been “breaking news” from large X accounts. Each claim has been swiftly debunked by Patel’s communications team (Ben Williamson and Erica Knight on X), but not before tens of thousands of reposts. The epithet “tabloid press” hardly describes the depth of chicanery and cynicism.
A recent X post by the historically well-respected Catherine Herridge exemplifies the histrionics surrounding all things FBI. Just yesterday, Herridge labeled a post “BREAKING” and featured a document “obtained by our team” titled, The New IQ: Your Guide to Sustaining Inclusive Habits in the Workplace.” Great Scott! Has the DEI serpent raised its head under Director Patel’s leadership? Hardly.
The DEI document was produced in 2020—five years ago! Doubtless flotsam like this is still being carried on the ebbing sludge tide of Biden-era policy, circling the drain into obscurity.
Director Patel’s AD of Public Affairs, Ben Williamson, put this salaciousness to bed neatly, “Director Patel’s new FBI will be an entirely mission-focused institution — working every day to get criminals off our streets, keep the American people safe, and let good agents be good agents. We are aggressively working to abide by any Presidential directive to root out politically motivated, social engineering projects — they have zero home here and never will as long as Director Patel is at the helm.”
Director Patel isn’t a wizard, and this isn’t a Harry Potter novel. Rooting out the vestiges of DEI will take time. Patel’s barely been in charge for a month. Yet, he’s already reoriented the FBI swiftly and efficiently. The FBI’s support of ICE investigations is a great example.
So, why do media/social media voices act like Director Patel carries a magic wand up his sleeve? The short answer is that FBI derangement syndrome has been extremely profitable and has bestowed celebrity status upon many a tawdry grifter. They are loathe to admit that the goose laying the golden eggs is now barren.
There has been much to legitimately criticize the FBI for — including the wildly disproportionate allocation of FBI resources to J6th investigations, the Russiagate travesty, or the shameful Mar-a-Lago raid. But, all that was Barack Hussein Obama’s—James Comey’s—Joe Biden’s—Merrick Garland’s—Christopher Wray’s FBI.
Director Patel deserves better than self-serving sniping from the peanut gallery—whether from journalists or social media personalities who’ve won digital popularity contests.
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