February 24, 2025
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Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel (wow, it felt good to type that) is expected to take on a second big role in the new Trump administration, that of acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). He could be sworn in as early as next week.
This unusual arrangement is sparking questions about the future of the ATF. Just days ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired ATF Chief Counsel Pamela Hicks after 20 years with the agency, saying the ATF was “targeting gun owners.” This likely came in response to an E.O. Trump issued earlier this month, directing the Attorney General to review all actions taken by the Biden administration regarding firearms “to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”
Gun Owners of America praised the choice of Patel, saying it was “a major victory for gun owners and constitutional rights advocates nationwide.” It follows that gun control groups are calling him a “known gun rights extremist.” Right now, Patel is just serving as the acting head of the agency, but he can still act with authority. Of course, it’s not known if he’ll get through the confirmation process, but that was also true of his current job as FBI director, and there he is.
https://www.newsmax.com/
On Saturday, Patel directed FBI staff not to respond to an email sent out by the Office of Personnel Management --- the one supported by Elon Musk --- saying that federal workers must justify their jobs or resign. He said that “the FBI would conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any response.”
This appears to show the operation working as it should, with Patel, as confirmed agency head, taking the reins and deciding how to implement DOGE. He’s the one with the authority.
In another startling personnel decision, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino has reportedly been tapped to be deputy director of the FBI. The announcement came Sunday night, in a post on Truth Social by Trump:
“Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice! Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel.”
In case you didn’t know the 50-year-old Bongino’s extensive and varied background, Trump goes on: “Dan has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from C.U.N.Y., and an MBA from Penn State. He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York’s Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he is willing and prepared to give up in order to serve.” He later credited Dan’s wife, Paula, and their two daughters “who truly love their dad.”
“Working with our great new Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law, and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations, Dan!”
We’ll wait for Bongino to comment on Monday about the future of his radio show and podcast and then weigh in on Tuesday. In the meantime, here’s a report from RADIO INSIGHT saying he does plan to exit his show.
https://radioinsight.com/
As Paula Bolyard reports in PJ MEDIA, Bongino’s appointment “will surely strike fear in the hearts of Deep State operatives.” With good reason.
Patel’s post-swearing-in speech might have a lot to do with that. And to the media, he said, “You’ve written everything that’s fake, malicious, slanderous and defamatory. Keep it coming --- bring it on. But leave the men and women, the FBI, out of it. They deserve better.”
Speaking of fake, malicious, slanderous and defamatory, former CIA Director, Russia Hoaxer and MSNBC contributor John Brennan is “very concerned” about Kash Patel leading the FBI, which is a really good sign.
Watch Patel’s full speech here…
Following his speech, he ordered the transfer of about 1,500 agents and staff from the Washington DC headquarters to field offices in high-crime areas around the country, where they can presumably fight actual crime rather than hunt down every last Trump supporter who was in DC on January 6.
Five hundred of these agents are being sent to Huntsville, Alabama, an outpost which is seen as “exile” by DC agents.
There’s no word in this story about what these reassignments mean for the huge new headquarters that’s planned for Greenbelt, Maryland, near DC. But Patel has commented before that he wanted the current headquarters emptied out and turned into “a museum to the Deep State.” That quip seems to reflect a desire to disperse agents throughout the country, not concentrate 7,500 of them in a luxurious new facility near DC.
This was a long-term plan; the facility would take an estimated ten years to build. At the link, here’s what was being said about the project a year ago. At that time, Congress had appropriated $845 million for a project that, even then, had ballooned in estimated cost to $4.5 billion (at a time when the government has an abundance of empty office space in DC.) If DOGE has recommendations about that expenditure, one would assume they’ll align with Kash Patel’s.
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