FBI Director Kash Patel is under intense scrutiny from a cohort of current and former officials who believe his leadership is faltering. Since President Donald Trump secured a second term in November 2024, 45 agents, officials, and executives have voiced their concerns to the New York Times. Patel’s controversial decisions, such as reallocating agents to focus on immigration enforcement and using a taxpayer-funded jet for personal travel with his country singer girlfriend, have triggered significant alarm. Insiders worry that Patel prioritizes managing public perception over the crucial investigative work needed to tackle crime effectively.

In a revealing incident last May, a senior executive, who remained anonymous, recounted Patel’s insistence on conducting high-level international business in unconventional settings. During a Five Eyes conference in the UK with intelligence agencies from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Patel reportedly showed discontent with the traditional office meeting format. “What he wants is social events,” the executive shared with the Times. “He wants Premier soccer games. He wants to go jet skiing. He’d like a helicopter tour.” The idea of inviting the MI5 director to jet ski instead of engaging in formal meetings left many bewildered.

Staff involved in the conference planning reportedly focused on details like Patel’s dining preferences, workout schedule, and entertainment choices. However, the most significant concern, according to the executive, was ensuring Patel’s girlfriend could accompany him to Windsor Castle. “They can’t just say he’s not participating and instead he wants to go to a Premier soccer game. This is a job, guys,” the executive emphasized, highlighting the disconnect between Patel’s interests and his professional responsibilities.

Patel’s girlfriend, country music artist Alexis Wilkins, has been the center of much controversy at the FBI. Claims span from overspending government money on her security detail and travel, to wild conspiracies she’s an Israeli ‘honeypot’ spy trying to insert her agenda at the bureau through her boyfriend. The couple have denied it all. Wilkins even took the heat for Americans’ ire over the delay and lackluster release of the Jeffrey Epstein files last year. Current and former officials also expressed their assessment that Patel is simply not fit for the role leading the Federal Bureau of Investigations. In September, conservative luminary Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an event on a college campus in Utah. Just hours after the horrific murder, Patel posted to X for his 1.8 million followers that a suspect was detained, but backtracked shortly afterwards before flying to Utah to oversee the investigation.

Former section chief in the FBI intelligence division John Sullivan told the Times that it’s likely Patel was told an individual was detained and then jumped the gun to announce it was a suspect without first confirming – a rookie mistake. Others who remained anonymous said Patel and then-Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino were more worried about their social media strategy than actually finding the assassin. An unnamed senior executive alleged that Patel became obsessed with the X strategy and claimed the director is ‘super emotional.’ During a conference call briefing on the assassination, Patel and Bongino began ‘talking about their Twitter strategy’ in what the senior executive called a ‘surreal’ moment. ‘Kash is like: I’m gonna tweet this. Salt Lake, you tweet that. Dan, you come in with this. Then I’ll come back with this,’ the executive recalled.

‘They’re literally scripting out their social media, not talking about how we’re going to respond or resources or the situation,’ the source added. ‘He’s screaming that he wants to put stuff out, but it’s not even vetted yet. It’s not even accurate.’ Patel was viewed as ‘completely out of control’ by those on the call, and allegedly said on a different call: ‘When a crisis happens, the only thing you need to do is call me. The most important thing in any crisis is controlling the narrative.’ Just months after the Kirk assassination, Bongino departed the FBI to go back to his right-wing podcast. Trump marked the conclusion of his first year back in office on Tuesday, and one FBI insider told the Daily Mail that Patel will likely stick it out through the entire term.

Around November 2025 reports surfaced that Trump was considering replacing Patel, but the president and White House publicly pushed back on those claims as ‘fake news.’ Trump even laughed off the rumor in an Oval Office meeting with Patel last year and stated his FBI director is ‘doing a great job.’ An FBI spokesperson did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment on the claims in the NYT article.