The Navy called it a "VIP Snorkel." Critics are calling it something else entirely.
"It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly distractions — this time at a site commemorating the second deadliest attack in U.S. history — instead of staying laser-focused on keeping Americans safe," said Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection, a network of former federal prosecutors and agents who fight for the Justice Department's independence.
Nobody Will Say Who Set This Up
An FBI spokesman flatly refused to answer questions about the snorkeling session, issuing only a vague statement about Patel attending "national security engagements" with military counterparts.
The Navy confirmed the outing happened but said it "was not able to track down who initiated it."
The National Park Service, which co-administers the memorial, said it wasn't involved and refused to comment further.
"It's Like Having a Bachelor Party at a Church"
Snorkeling and diving at the Arizona are almost entirely off-limits to the public. The wreck has been a military cemetery since Japan bombed and sank it in 1941. The only people who regularly dive there are marine archaeologists, National Park Service crews surveying the wreck's condition, and the occasional ceremonial diver interring the remains of Arizona survivors who wanted to spend eternity alongside their shipmates.
Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran who dives the Arizona annually as part of a select group from the Paralyzed Veterans of America, didn't mince words.
"It's like having a bachelor party at a church. It's hallowed ground," he said. "It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves."
A former government diver, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation, told the AP that no FBI director since at least 1993 had ever gone snorkeling at the memorial. The diver called it unusual for anyone not connected to the memorial to have such access, citing physical risks and serious "security, safety, and logistical challenges."
The Trip Patel Didn't Want You to Know About
What makes this worse: the FBI never disclosed any of it.
When Patel swung through Hawaii on his way to official visits in Australia and New Zealand, the bureau issued press releases touting his tour of the Honolulu field office and his meetings with local law enforcement. What those releases didn't mention was that Patel came back to Hawaii for two additional days after his initial stop — and spent one of those days snorkeling over the graves of nearly a thousand American servicemen.
Flight tracking data show the FBI's Gulfstream G550 lingered on the island for two nights before jetting off to Las Vegas — Patel's adopted hometown.
The Navy says participants were briefed on the "historic significance of the Memorial as the final resting place/tomb for hundreds of service members" and told not to touch the wreck. It also insisted the outing was "not an anomaly," noting that past snorkelers have included Navy admirals and secretaries of defense and interior.
A Pattern That Won't Quit
This is far from Patel's first rodeo with questionable use of his perch atop the FBI. In February, a video surfaced of him partying in the locker room with the U.S. Men's Olympic hockey team after their gold medal win in Milan. Patel has defended that trip as "purposely planned" around a cybercrime investigation with Italian authorities — a claim that has raised eyebrows.
Then there was the New Zealand visit, just one day before the snorkeling session, where Patel gifted that country's police and spy chiefs 3D-printed replica pistols that turned out to be illegal to possess under local gun laws.
Some family members of Pearl Harbor survivors told the AP they don't object to rare official visits to the site. But they also noted they've never been allowed to snorkel there themselves.
