'Leadership void': FBI insiders alarmed by Kash Patel's failure to live up to his workload
FBI director Kash Patel has reportedly cut back on daily briefings and stopped holding a weekly teleconference with other high-ranking law enforcement officials, raising concerns that he's not taking his job seriously enough.
NBC News advanced reporting from earlier this week and found a dozen current and former officials at the Department of Justice and FBI had questioned his leadership and dedication after he cut the director's daily briefings back to twice a week, according to two sources, and ended the Wednesday-afternoon video conference, according to current and one former FBI official.
“There’s a growing sense among the ranks that there’s a leadership void,” said Stacey Young, a former DOJ lawyer who co-founded Justice Connection, a support group for former department employees. “And that the highest echelons of the bureau are more concerned about currying favor with the president, retribution and leaks than the actual work.”
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Officials who worked on the daily briefings said they were told the schedule had changed because Patel sometimes failed to show up on time, according two two current and two former FBI and Justice Department officials, while current and former officials had noticed him appearing regularly with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country.
Since entering office on Feb 20, the FBI director appears to have made three flights on FBI planes to Nashville, Tennessee, where his country singer girlfriend lives, two flights to Las Vegas, where he has a home, and one flight to New York, where he attended a professional hockey game.
“The FBI does not comment on travel arrangements for security purposes,” said FBI spokesman Ben Williamson. “All ethical guidelines are followed rigorously.”
Williamson confirmed the reduction in the daily 8:30 a.m. briefings but denied Patel had arrived late for the meetings, saying that he still attends five morning meetings a week.
“This change was based on feedback from people in the Bureau — NOT the Director’s schedule or attendance,” Williamson said. “He still has 5 morning meetings per week. These meetings are critical to keeping America safe.”
But even some former FBI officials who are supporters of Donald Trump, including a former friend, have questioned Patel's dedication to his job.
“When you look at the things that people in America value about Donald Trump, if nothing else, it’s the incredible amount of work ethic that he has,” said conservative former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, a former Patel friend who is now a critic. “Then you’ve got Kash Patel, who’s apparently taking time doing sports events, doing lots of public appearances, popping up with FIFA, going to UFC, flying around in our private jet.”
A longtime Patel associate told NBC News that "The only thing he’s doing late into the night is going to the gym," but sources say that FBI staffers are frustrated with his seeming disinterest in being briefed on some of the most sensitive intelligence the U.S. government collects, although that material is provided to him each day in written form.
“So now they scramble trying to curate a briefing of things he may be interested in, which has them pulling products and switching things,” said one of the officials.
However, another FBI official said those claims about Patel's lack of interest in the briefings were “not remotely true.”
“I myself am with him in many of these meetings. He asks tons of questions and pushes staff to get to the point and present solutions,” said that official. “To a bad-faith individual who loves to bloviate and gossip to NBC News, that might come off as lack of interest. It’s not. It’s being efficient with time and wanting to fix problems.”