Donald Trump Picks Indian-American Kash Patel As FBI Director. Here's What May Happen Next

Last Updated:December 01, 2024, 22:11 IST

Kash Patel is a controversial figure even among Trump loyalists and has proposed a set of radical reforms in the FBI.

Kash Patel is a staunch Trump loyalist who held key positions in the Security Committee and the Defence Department during the latter's first term. (Reuters)

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Indian-American Kash Patel as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, positioning a loyalist in one of the most important offices in his push against illegal immigration as he assumes the presidency next month.

Trump praised Patel as the “America First fighter" and said that he would stop the rising human and drug trafficking across the US borders. Patel, a former Security Council staffer, would replace Christopher Wray as FBI chief, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, however, fell out of favour with the president before his 10-year term.

Patel, 44, has been vocal about his ambition to reform the FBI. In an interview on the conservative Shawn Ryan Show, he outlined bold proposals, including dismantling the agency’s intelligence-gathering operations and repurposing its headquarters.

Who is Kash Patel?

Kashyap Pramod Patel, also known as Kash Patel, was born in New York on February 25, 1980, to Gujarati immigrant parents from East Africa and pursued a career in law. In the first Trump administration, he held key positions at the Office of the Director of Intelligence and the Defense Department and has called for a “comprehensive housecleaning" of the Justice Department and the FBI.

Congressman Davin Nunes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select on Intelligence Committee, pulled him as senior counsel on counterterrorism. He was instrumental in drafting the controversial “Nunes Memo," which accused the FBI of abusing surveillance powers in its investigation into the Trump campaign. Though the memo sparked intense criticism from the US Justice Department, it drew Trump’s attention and solidified Patel’s position as a trusted figure within the Trump administration.

Even among Trump loyalists, Patel remains a controversial figure with his remarks and shares a disdain for established power in Washington with Trump. It was earlier speculated that Kash Patel would be given the job to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), however, Trump cleared the air around it by announcing former director of Intelligence John Ratcliffe as the new CIA chief.

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What Does Patel’s Appointment Mean?

Patel had made a series of radical reforms, such as decentralising FBI operations, focusing on criminal investigations and declassifying key government records like those related to JFK’s assassination and the 9/11 attack. He also called for the agency’s headquarters in Washington DC to be dismantled and turned into a “museum of the deep state."

“What the Deep State uses the most to cover up their corruption is an illegal application of the classification system," he said in a podcast interview while talking about two former FBI officials whose personal messages disparaging Trump were leaked. He also ridiculed the FBI for its 2022 search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which led to charges being brought against the former president for retaining classified documents.

He has also talked about trying to rid the government of “conspirators" against Trump and going after “the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections". Last year, Patel courted controversy when he told Trump ally Steve Bannon that he would “come after" politicians and journalists perceived to be enemies of the president-elect.

Is FBI Heading In A New Direction?

Patel’s appointment is a signal that the FBI under Trump would be going in a new direction with concerns over the declassification of sensitive information and a purge of civil servants, although most of his proposals would require backing from other officials and are expected to encounter significant resistance. His call for reducing the FBI’s footprint is starkly in contrast with other leaders of the bureau, who say they want more resources.

Patel’s proposed crackdown on leaks of information by government officials to the media is also an indication that he wants the Justice Department to undo its current policy prohibiting the secret seizure of reporters’ phone records in leak investigations. He has also spoken on disentangling the FBI’s intelligence-gathering operations from the rest of its operations, although that path is uncertain at a time when the US is facing what officials say is a heightened threat to terrorism.

In his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy," Patel lambasted “crazed partisans" for hijacking “the law enforcement apparatus" against Trump. He described the “Deep State" as “the most dangerous threat to our democracy".

(with inputs from agencies)

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

News world Donald Trump Picks Indian-American Kash Patel As FBI Director. Here's What May Happen Next