I became a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2000, and over the following years, I saw the bureau transform. Leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, it had been focused primarily on its criminal work — such as uncovering mafia activity, investigating violent and white-collar crime and rooting out drug trafficking — and had arguably been distracted from the threat by Al Qaeda that had taken root in the United States. But after that terrible day, under Robert Mueller’s leadership, the F.B.I. evolved quickly, bolstering its national security work to better prevent terrorist attacks, its top priority.
I left the F.B.I. last year, having held multiple leadership roles overseeing counterterrorism and criminal investigations. I was pushed out of my post along with seven other senior executives. The bureau remains strong, thanks to the talented and dedicated men and women serving within it, but the ousters of dozens of experienced personnel since President Trump took office — some of whom handled threats from Iran — represent a dangerous fact about the current leadership.
Kash Patel is consumed by politically motivated revenge and conspiracy theories, distracting the F.B.I., once again, from the danger of terrorism. The spreading war with Iran significantly elevates the regime’s threat to Americans at home and abroad, meaning that the F.B.I. must return its focus to its core work: protecting Americans from terrorist and cyberattacks and halting foreign intelligence operations and espionage.
Even before the war, Iran posed a serious threat. It is the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism and, through its proxies and its own direct recruitment abroad, culpable for the deaths of hundreds of Americans. It supported Hezbollah when it killed 241 American service members with a powerful car bomb in Beirut in 1983. In 1996, it was responsible for an attack in Saudi Arabia that murdered 19 service members. And in recent years, it has increasingly targeted Americans at home, using its own direct network controlled by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the external operations branch of the ayatollah’s powerful military force. In one case, it planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who publicly opposed the Iranian government — only to hire Russian mobsters to try to murder her instead. After the F.B.I. arrested the mobsters, an I.R.G.C. asset hired local operatives who stalked her for months, until the F.B.I. arrested them, too. The I.R.G.C. had tasked that same asset with concocting a plan to assassinate Mr. Trump.
Iran also poses a cyberthreat. Hackers affiliated with the I.R.G.C. have successfully attacked American water and wastewater systems facilities, disabled bank websites and prevented customers from accessing their online accounts. Those financial attacks collectively cost American businesses millions of dollars to neutralize the threat and mitigate the consequences.
Against that backdrop, the current sophomoric leadership of the F.B.I. is concerning. Mr. Patel’s rushed judgments and prolific social media posts undercut the bureau’s professionalism. He hastily posted misleading tweets about investigations into Charlie Kirk’s murder and the Brown University shooting. He mischaracterized Alex Pretti’s actions before his fatal shooting in Minneapolis and claimed, falsely, that Mr. Pretti had violated Minnesota’s gun laws. He has frolicked at the Olympics, formed a nonsensical partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and consistently engaged in combative behavior during congressional testimony — moves that suggest his focus is not on the most pressing threats this country faces.
Mr. Patel’s retaliatory firings are particularly harmful now. Dismissing personnel out of spite, for no valid reason, makes the United States less safe — especially when some of those fired employees were steeped in the sort of counterintelligence work that prevents Iranian attacks.
Mr. Patel is fond of saying that his goal is to let “good cops be cops.” In leading the F.B.I., his job is to let good special agents be special agents. F.B.I. agents are trained to use intelligence and technology to advance investigations into federal crimes such as terrorism and cyberattacks. They are not trained to patrol city streets or to enforce immigration laws — as Mr. Patel has had them do. There are about 13,000 F.B.I. agents, and roughly 700,000 full-time sworn state and local law enforcement officers in the United States. The bureau must work with law enforcement partners to effectively address issues including violent crime. But agents aren’t cops, and their skills are best directed at neutralizing the most significant threats.
Are we less safe than we were a year ago? I hope not. I continue to trust the expertise and dedication of the F.B.I.’s work force. But the bureau’s personnel deserve strong, knowledgeable, engaged leadership. They must be allowed to protect the American people and uphold the U.S. Constitution, and that starts with our national security. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another Sept. 11 to snap the F.B.I.’s leadership into action.
Jacqueline Maguire served in many leadership roles in the F.B.I., including as special agent in charge of the New York criminal division and of the Philadelphia field office, and as the executive assistant director of the science and technology branch.
Source photographs by Borka Kiss and islander11 via Getty Images.
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