Kash Patel Is Uniquely Qualified To Lead the FBI
The predictable chorus of outrage from denizens of the Beltway Blob poured forth following President-elect Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel to serve as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As the individual most closely associated with uncovering the astounding abuses of power now known as “Russiagate,” Patel’s nomination was always destined to terrify the Washington think tank-media complex that had sought to perpetuate the myth of President Trump’s supposed collusion with Moscow.
Far more pernicious than discredited conspiracy theorists objecting to the nomination of the man who debunked their serial misinformation is the emerging Beltway line that Patel is “unqualified” to serve as director of the FBI. In a town that venerates credentials, it is remarkable that even the most anti-Trump commentators would insist upon Patel’s supposed lack of qualifications to lead the United States’ chief federal law enforcement agency. An objective evaluation of Patel’s service, and the backgrounds of previous FBI Directors, points to only one conclusion: Kash Patel has the most significant and serious national security background of anyone ever nominated to serve as director of the FBI.
Since J. Edgar Hoover became the bureau’s first director in 1935, the top job at the FBI has nearly always gone to an individual with a mix of federal prosecutorial, judicial branch, and senior Justice Department service. While these backgrounds made sense for much of the 20th century, when the FBI’s principal role remained that of a domestic law enforcement agency, they are woefully inadequate for the threats of the 21st century.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, and over the last decade of Great Power competition with China and Russia, the FBI has become the nation’s front line in counterterrorism, counterespionage, and domestic security matters. The approach required of the FBI to meet these challenges, which will only grow and expand in the years ahead, differs substantially from the traditional bureau mindset historically applied to kidnappings and bank robberies. A director who has operated at the highest level of the national security apparatus, and understands these 21st century threats from a prism beyond that of an assistant attorney general or U.S. attorney, is essential for American security.
Kash Patel will be just such a director. While Patel has significant courtroom experience as both a prosecutor and a public defender, it is his time working at the highest levels of the U.S. national security bureaucracy that uniquely prepares him to lead the bureau at this moment. Patel served with distinction as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, where he was the principal White House official responsible for overseeing the U.S. government’s counterterrorism agenda. This goes far beyond the vantage point of a traditional FBI director, who may have encountered the government’s approach to counterterrorism as a prosecutor, judge, or Justice Department official. By contrast, Patel worked each day with, and helped set the direction for, the men and women actually executing America’s counterterrorism efforts. With access to the most sensitive intelligence the country possesses, and responsibility for advising the president in real time on operations of extraordinary sensitivity and consequence, Patel lived and breathed the threats that will define the coming decades.
As chief of staff of the Department of Defense, Patel occupied one of the United States’ most unsung but consequential positions. As the right-hand man to the acting secretary of defense, Patel was involved in every aspect of running the largest and most complex bureaucracy on earth. From Special Operations missions to conventional force deployments to intelligence on adversary threats and intentions, Patel acquired an understanding of the U.S. military’s capabilities and requirements that no other FBI director has ever enjoyed. It is experience that will serve him well in a threat environment where the line between overseas battlefields and the home front is intentionally blurred by adversaries.
Having worked closely with Kash Patel during his time at both the NSC and the Pentagon, I can say with confidence that Donald Trump could not have picked an individual more suited by experience and dedication to lead today’s FBI. As he has done with other appointments, President-elect Trump is jettisoning the Beltway cookie-cutter definition of what constitutes appropriate qualifications and instead asking: What are the actual skills, experiences, and qualities needed to keep America safe and prosperous in the 21st century? In Kash Patel, the president and the American people have our man.