Kash Patel's FBI 'purge' sparks 'dire warning' from former officials
The letter, signed by members of a group calling itself The Steady State, comes after Patel and Bongino abruptly fired several high-ranking officials last week. They included former Acting Director Brian Driscoll (pictured), Washington Field Office chief Steven Jensen, and veteran agents Walter Giardina and Michael Feinberg. All were told to clear their desks by Friday. 'It is not about reform. It is about control,' the group wrote. 'The aim, it seems, is to transform the FBI from a respected, constitutionally grounded investigative service into a personal enforcement arm of a political figure… We have seen these dynamics abroad - leaders who demand loyalty from security services not to the law, but to themselves. These regimes do not end well.'
The statement accused the Trump administration of installing Patel and Bongino in leadership despite 'not having resumes that meet the basic standards' to run what it called 'the world's premier law enforcement agency.' The officials said the agents were targeted for not showing personal loyalty to President Donald Trump, calling the FBI's independence 'a democratic necessity.' From bureau veterans to sudden targets The firings landed hardest on officials with deep experience in national security, counterterrorism, and high-profile investigations. Driscoll, a veteran of the bureau's Hostage Rescue Team and a former leader of its Critical Incident Response Group, served as acting director after Christopher Wray's departure and was regarded inside the bureau as a hero having resisted Trump administration demands to turn over the names of agents who worked on January 6 investigations.
The Justice Department's former Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove (pictured), who has since been confirmed to serve as an appellate court judge, accused Driscoll and former FBI Acting Deputy Director Robert Kissane of insubordination, after they tried to fend off his efforts to collect a list of the names of all those people. He said the requests were meant to 'permit the Justice Department to conduct a review of those particular agents' conduct pursuant to Trump's executive order' on 'weaponization' in the Biden administration. Responding to Bove's request, the FBI provided personnel details about several thousand employees, identifying them by unique employee numbers rather than by names.
Driscoll, nicknamed 'The Drizz,' told his colleagues in a farewell message on Thursday that he was given no explanation for his removal. 'I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I have no answers,' Driscoll told colleagues in a farewell email. 'No cause has been articulated at this time. Please know that it has been the honor of my life to serve alongside each of you.' He wrote: 'Our collective sacrifice for those we serve is, and will always be, worth it. I regret nothing. You are my heroes and I remain in your debt.' Jensen, who oversaw the Washington Field Office - one of the bureau's busiest - was told his termination would be effective immediately. 'I intend to meet this challenge like any other I have faced in this organization, with professionalism, integrity and dignity,' he wrote in his own farewell note. 'Never waver in your resolve to answer the call to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution,' he added.
Giardina, who worked on cases involving Trump aide Peter Navarro, and Feinberg (pictured), who has said he faced retaliation over his friendship with former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, were also shown the door. Giardina had been recently targeted by Republican Senator Charles Grassley for his involvement in several Trump-related cases. Numerous senior officials including top agents in charge of big-city field offices have been pushed out of their jobs, and some agents have been subjected to polygraph exams, moves that former officials say have roiled the workforce and contributed to angst.
Former Las Vegas Special Agent-in-Charge Spencer Evans was also told to leave on Friday. Numerous special agents in charge of field offices have been told to retire, resign or accept reassignment. In April the bureau also reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. The Steady State's letter painted the dismissals as part of a broader campaign to dismantle the FBI's 'long-standing independence' and replace it with political loyalty tests.
'The FBI has long been a bulwark against such corruption… Its independence is not a bureaucratic feature; it is a democratic necessity,' the letter read. They urged remaining agents to hold the line: 'The nation is watching, and will be inspired by the FBI. And history will remember.' Former FBI agent Phil Kennedy, an outspoken critic of the current leadership, posted the letter on social media and referred to the firings as 'the recent FBI purge,' calling it a 'Bureau bloodbath.' The mass terminations are the latest wave in a months-long shakeup under Patel and Bongino, which has seen senior leaders reassigned, forced into retirement, or subjected to polygraph exams.
Some firings have targeted agents involved in politically sensitive cases, including the January 6 Capitol riot investigations and former Special Counsel Jack Smith's (pictured) prosecutions of Trump. The controversy deepened in February when thousands of bureau employees were ordered to complete questionnaires detailing any involvement in January 6 cases. Weeks later, then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered a list of all current and former personnel connected to those investigations, sparking fears the data would be used to identify and remove them. The FBI Agents Association has condemned the firings, warning that 'firing agents without due process will make the country less safe.' 'There is a review process when employment actions are taken against Agents.
FBI leadership committed - both publicly and directly to FBIAA - that they would abide by that process. We urge them to honor that commitment and follow the law,' the group added. The group urged bureau leadership to honor the review process 'so that the FBI could remain independent and apolitical.' The FBI, Patel, and Bongino have declined to comment on the dismissals or the accusations in the Steady State letter. Trump, asked earlier this year if his administration planned to remove employees tied to January 6 probes, called the FBI 'corrupt' and said Patel would 'straighten it out,' but did not answer directly.
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