Kash Patel is leading the FBI with a focus on raising his star profile, according to his agents. The 45-year-old FBI director—who had no prior experience at the agency before bagging the top job—is said to demand a heads-up for any “noteworthy arrests” so he can be on the scene and get screen time.
A source told Axios that, alongside Patel focusing on making it on the news, agents are instructed that if the director does show up—which isn’t a given—they should avoid engaging with him. Patel is rarely spotted out of an FBI windbreaker while on the job, with a source telling Axios that the habit is rubbing staff the wrong way. “You’re the director of the FBI. Wear a f–king suit,” the recently-retired agent said.
The agent’s complaint mirrors a report leaked this month in a dossier compiled by former and current agents that addresses Patel’s leadership failures.
In one incident, the dossier claims that Patel threw a tantrum when he arrived in Provo, Utah, the day after Charlie Kirk was assassinated. While FBI agents were in the midst of a manhunt, Patel allegedly refused to leave his jet until he was provided with a size medium windbreaker. Patel then continued his fit, because the jacket did not have enough patches on the sleeve. He remained on the jet until members of the FBI SWAT team “took patches off their uniforms and ran those patches over to FBI Director Kash Patel at the airport.”