British intelligence officials were left “incredulous” as FBI Director Kash Patel axed an agent’s job in London, compromising an intelligence-sharing agreement between the two countries that had held strong since 1938.
That agreement is known as Five Eyes, an alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. During a visit to London in May, Patel assured officials with M15 – the UK’s domestic intelligence agency – that he would preserve an FBI job in London. It had, however, already been axed, The New York Times reported Monday.
“It was a jarring introduction to Mr. Patel’s leadership style for British officials,” wrote Times reporter Adam Goldman.
Beyond the false pledge to retain the FBI agent’s job in London, Patel’s meeting with British officials “started awkwardly even before he arrived,” Goldman wrote.
Speaking with the Times on the condition of anonymity, U.S. officials said that Patel was instructed to land at Stansted Airport just outside of London, but requested he be allowed to land at a different airport closer to the luxury hotel where officials were poised to meet — a request that British officials denied due to security reasons.
Despite being told that his security detail could not carry firearms due to Britain’s strict gun laws, Patel arrived with armed security regardless, sparking an “emergency meeting” between the FBI and British security officials.
Patel, once he finally arrived at the meeting, was seen sporting a “trucker hat and a green hooded sweatshirt,” one former U.S. official told the Times. He would go on to insist to British officials that the FBI agent in London would retain their position central to Five Eyes — despite funding for the position having already been axed.
Accompanied by his 26-year-old girlfriend, Patel would dine at Windsor Palace with King Charles III, two former U.S. officials said, before heading back to the United States.