Counterintelligence expert Kash Patel, who is close to US President-Elect Donald Trump, is reportedly under consideration for appointment to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after having been passed over for the leadership of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
If he gets the job, he will likely be the highest-ranking Indian American in the administration even though it is not a Cabinet post and no names from the community have emerged as of Saturday for the remaining Cabinet-level jobs.
Media reports say that several Trump loyalists are pushing the appointment of Patel, who has called for “drastic measures” to reshape the FBI.
Patel had close ties with Trump who considered him one of his policy specialists, and they both share the view that Trump had won the 2020 election but was unlawfully deprived of the presidency and that there should be retribution for those they consider responsible.
During his campaign, Trump endorsed Patel’s proposals to reshape government in his book, ‘Government of Gangsters’, a title that reflects both their views that a cabal of “Deep State” operatives was running the country behind the scenes.
Patel had served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism (CT) at the National Security Council (NSC), before becoming the chief of staff to the then Acting Secretary of Defence Christopher Miller, his final job in the first Trump administration.
His appointment to head the FBI, the powerful domestic intelligence service, is by no means certain as there are others in the running and opposition to him from the more establishment types in the Republican party and government.
Nearing the end of his first term, Trump had sought to appoint Patel as the deputy director of the CIA, but was foiled by opposition from the then-head, Gina Haspel.
The then-Attorney General William Barr also shot down a proposal to appoint him as the Deputy Director of the FBI.
Christopher Wray, who Trump appointed to a ten-year term as the FBI Director in 2017 and who was retained by President Joe Biden, will have to be fired or voluntarily resign for Trump to nominate a new head.
The job required confirmation by the Senate.
Patel started off as a public defender – the government-paid lawyer for poor defendants – and made his jump to the prosecution side as a trial attorney for the Justice Department’s National Security Division which handles terrorism-related cases, and as the liaison to the military’s Joint Special Operations Command.
According to a Defence Department biography, Patel worked with the command “to conduct collaborative global targeting operations against high-value terrorism targets” and oversaw the elimination of Islamic State terror group’s and al-Qaeda’s leaders.
That helped him build his expertise on terrorism and led to his next career move as the national security advisor to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
His work there to unravel the claims of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump, and on the FBI’s questionable wiretaps of Trump’s campaign staff drew the attention of the White House and Trump’s allies.
He joined the White House as the Senior Director for Counterterrorism in the National Security Council with also the rank of Deputy Special Assistant to the President.
Trump expanded it, placing Patel among his “top Ukraine policy specialists.”
Politico reported that according to former White House sources Patel had direct access to Trump, to the chagrin of other officials.
He rapidly rose to become a principal deputy to Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, with his next stop at the Defence Department.
Patel, who uses an abbreviated version of his first name Kashyap, is the son of Gujaratis who came to the US from East Africa, and in his book, he speaks of a deep connection to India.
Patel’s view of the government establishment, like Trump’s, is coloured deeply by distrust and suspicions that it has its own agenda and is loyal to external forces.
He was a firm believer that Trump had won the 2020 election and supported Trump’s calls for retribution.
He said in a podcast interview, “We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media” responsible for what he asserted was rigging the election.
About the FBI, he wrote in his book that it “has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.”
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