By Maria Maalouf
The United States Senate voted on Friday. February 21st, 2025 to appoint Kash Patel as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI,) the most powerful internal security institution in the United States Government. The vote was split along party lines with fifty for and forty eight against. Only two Republican senators voted against him. This was a big success for President Donald Trump since the U.S. Senate had voted for all the nominees he sent for approval.
Kash Patel worked previously for the Justice Department. He is an attorney and served also as congressional staffer. He held a senior position with the intelligence community in the first Trump Administration. Patel came under fire for spinning conspiracy theories about federal employees. He also views the January 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill not as an insurrection. In addition, he was accused of having an “enemy list.” This refers to his promises to prosecute and to go after the political opponents of President Trump. As well, he was looked upon suspiciously by many for having ties with Russian agents through his consulting business. Moreover, he was the subject of much dismay that he will target the career civil servants inside the FBI and that he will eliminate the FBI staffers who fill in its senior echelons. Of course, Kash Patel denied all these allegation.
Patel is a loyalist to the agenda of President Trump. Therefore, he will implement his agenda in policy areas, especially in enforcing the deportations of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigration. Importantly, the jury is still on whether Patel will persecute the opponents of President Trump or not. Several sources against him said that he will revisit the events of January 6th again and will be harsh regarding any law enforcement officer who mistreated the protesters against the U.S. Presidential Elections of 2020. It is still unknown what kind of instructions will President Trump order Patel to do.
His role at the helm of the FBI will depend also on the tenure of Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Justice Department. Perhaps he will proceed with much caution knowing that there is still a fierce opposition against him. An example of this enmity to him was expressed by the committee known as American Oversight. It issued the following statement,
“ Despite his record of vitriol, political attacks, and complete lack of law enforcement management experience, the Senate voted to confirm Kash Patel as FBI Director without full disclosure of his role in one of the most consequential criminal investigations in our nation’s history. With Congress failing to act as a check on an out-of-control executive branch, the need for independent watchdogs like American Oversight is more important than ever. We will continue fighting for the release of the special counsel’s report and remain committed to holding Patel and the administration accountable.”
Patel’s career depends on the success or failure of the Trump Administration in fulfilling its promises. It will be tied also to the results of the U.S. Congressional Elections in 2026. If it brings a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, Patel will face more scrutiny from the members of the legislative branch. Patel will try to be apolitical. However, no FBI director throughout the history of that institution was non-political.
For sure, he will face many new challenges expectedly if there is terrorism committed against the United States. Patel has presented himself as a personal enemy of the deep state. Yet, the FBI embodies much of the underlying political power and bias of the deep state. Thus, Patel may face a very touch situation which is how he will try to dismantle the attributes of the deep state embodied in the FBI without undermining his own authority and the prestige of the institution he presides over within the bureaucratic structure of the U.S. Federal Government. It will be interesting to watch who will be making the decisions to downsize the FBI: Kash Patel or Elon Musk.
It will be better if Patel makes a balance in his work between the United States Congress and the White House. He must engage well in his work with the American public in full transparency. This is the only way he could get the confidence of the America public opinion. He will face very tough questions about topics he is not schooled in such as the release of the files concerning the assassination of President John Kennedy and the killing of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. If Kash Patel alienates the American people through the use of secrecy he will be condemned as a part of the deep state, or the bureaucratic system and apparatus that he himself always fought against.
