How Patel’s personal battles with intelligence officials have shaped his view of the FBI

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets. As a Republican congressional aide and Trump national security staffer, Patel fought to declassify and release documents to try to undercut the FBI’s investigation into connections between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. If confirmed, Patel would be in position to reignite his fight with the US intelligence community from one of the most powerful perches in Washington. The FBI plays a significant role in US intelligence, one that Patel seems poised to redefine in unprecedented ways. He’s accused the FBI and intelligence agencies of carrying out a “deep state” plot targeting Trump and his allies — including himself — and called for a major overhaul of both. Patel has even suggested that the FBI should scale back its intelligence activities and instead focus on law enforcement. “Go be cops,” he said in a podcast interview last fall. Diminishing the FBI’s intelligence responsibilities would roll back significant reforms made in response to the 9/11 attacks, when the government failed to connect clear pieces of intelligence across multiple agencies, seen as a major failing in the lead-up to the attack.