The FBI director, Kash Patel, is “in over his head” and leading a “chronically underperforming” agency paralyzed by fear and declining morale, according to a 115-page report compiled by a national coalition of retired and active-duty FBI special agents and analysts.
The leaked assessment, obtained by the New York Post and prepared for both Congress’s Senate and House Judiciary committees, is based on confidential accounts from 24 FBI sources.
He accused Patel of lacking experience leading the FBI and said that managers would not take initiative without clear direction for fear of being fired. Patel’s first six months have painted a “troubling picture” of the organisation, described by insiders as a “rudderless ship”, with two sources independently describing the director as “in over his head”. One said he lacked “the requisite knowledge or deep understanding of all of the FBI’s unique and complex investigative and intelligence programs”.
A prominent charge is that the FBI has been “paralyzed internally by fear”. According to multiple sources, managers are “afraid of losing their jobs”, and are “waiting for instructions from the FBI Director” rather than taking initiative.
This paralysis partly arose before his nomination, when Patel publicly accused the FBI of being part of a “deep state” conspiracy against Trump and called for radical changes. He advocated closing the FBI’s Washington headquarters and dispersing employees across the country and accused the bureau of being a political weapon during its investigation of Trump.
This assessment has come amidst the ongoing controversies regarding Patel’s tenure. Ahead of his confirmation in February 2025, nearly 60 civil rights organizations had urged the Senate to reject his nomination due to his lack of experience, foreign ties and misleading statements. Since taking office, he has faced criticism for refusing to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and for prematurely announcing an arrest in the Kirk investigation that had to be retracted.
Patel, who served as a House Intelligence Committee staffer and later held roles in the Trump administration’s first term — including deputy director of national intelligence — is also the author of pro-Trump children’s books, including The Plot Against the King. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Patel dominated the right-wing media before Trump won again and was promoted to lead the FBI.
He has also faced scrutiny over allegations that he hired SWAT personnel to protect his girlfriend and used a government plane for personal travel.
According to the assessment, on September 11, the day after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Patel arrived in Provo, Utah, but refused to leave the FBI jet without the proper red jacket. A “highly respected” source described in the report said that agents working on the Kirk investigation had to stop their work to find a medium-sized jacket for Patel. When a female agent’s jacket was delivered, Patel complained about missing Velcro patches on the sleeves and refused to take off until SWAT team members removed the patches from his uniform and attached them to the borrowed jacket.
The same source confirmed media reports that Patel “yelled” at the Special Agent-in-Charge and made “derogatory remarks” over “alleged blunders” in the case. Deputy Director Dan Bongino later apologized by phone and said, “This should never have happened.”
Both Patel and Bongino face criticism for what many sources describe as an excessive focus on social media. FBI employees reported hearing more about the bureau’s mission from leadership’s social media posts than from official internal channels.
Bongino, who lacks traditional FBI experience and was given a Patel-authorized exemption exempting him from standard polygraph screening, has been described by one source as “something of a joker”.
In one incident, Patel was upset to learn that FBI personnel at Quantico had discussed his request to be released to the FBI gun. When the details leaked, he ordered polygraph tests of everyone involved to find out who had criticized him. In evaluating one respected FBI leader, he called the order “unnecessarily punitive.”
Not all reactions were negative. Many sources welcomed the withdrawal of Patel’s diversity and equality initiative and praised the immigration enforcement actions. Some reported improvements in prosecution support compared to the previous administration. However, while some sources supported the dismissal of senior officials deemed responsible for past politicization, they argued that the reforms “have not gone deep enough”.
The report also notes the concerns of countries with close partnerships with the United States. Sources in the report indicated that law enforcement and intelligence agencies of allied countries fear that the Trump administration “could cause long-term damage to international cooperation”.
The anonymous authors, who requested confidentiality to protect their position, told the Post that their assessment “was never intended to be a hit” but acknowledged that “the actual reporting by FBI personnel was 80/20 negative”. He concluded by advising Patel and Bongino to pay attention to the criticism.
The White House recently denied media reports that Trump was planning to fire Patel. The congressional judiciary committees named in the report will receive a copy of the assessment this week.
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