Embattled FBI Director Kash Patel’s revenge-fueled firing spree resulted in several key specialists in the threat posed by Iran losing their jobs—just days before Donald Trump’s latest war.
Patel terminated 12 FBI employees following revelations that his and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles’ phones had been under subpoena as part of a probe on the illegal storage of documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.
The FBI used subpoenas to obtain the communication records of Patel and Wiles during a 2022-23 probe that eventually came under the leadership of special counsel Jack Smith.
But Patel’s revenge strike on the FBI wound up decimating the Bureau’s global espionage unit known as CI-12, according to a report by MS NOW citing more than six sources with knowledge of the firings.
The report claimed that even on Monday there were still fears within the FBI that Patel would cull more agents and staff in the CI-12 unit, which operates out of the Washington Field Office.
The elite CI-12 unit focuses on “media leaks, global espionage and international threats against America” emanating from countries such as Cuba and Iran, according to former FBI officials speaking to the New York Sun.
“More broadly, CI squads are the lead domestic teams for investigating insider threats and foreign intelligence activity on American soil.”
Patel’s outing of the CI-12 staff not only came days before attacks in Iran, but also before a deadly mass shooting in Austin, Texas, conducted “by a man reportedly wearing a sweatshirt that said, ‘Property of Allah,’ beneath which was a T-shirt that was ’emblazoned with a design similar to the Iranian flag,“ CBS News reported on Monday.
The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI for comment.
Trump announced they had launched “major combat operations” against Iran early on Saturday. “Operation Epic Fury” has seen six U.S. service members killed by Iranian strikes so far.
The 79-year-old ordered the attack on Iran after weeks of lobbying from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported.
The strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior officials—including some who had been identified by the United States as possible candidates to lead Iran.
CI-12 had a role in monitoring retaliatory strikes by Iran on U.S. soil after an American drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in 2020.
At the time of Patel’s firings last week, he lashed out at the work of the agency before he took over as director in February last year.
“It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records—along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles—using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,” Patel said in a statement.
The FBI Agents Association opposed Patel’s firings at the time, releasing a statement to CNN that may have been prophetic.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.”
While he would not comment on personnel matters, FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told MS NOW, “Our teams remain fully engaged across the country and prepared to mobilize any security assets needed to assist federal partners — as well as state and local law enforcement.”
