Trump FBI pick Kash Patel should take these concrete steps to restore trust: former special agent
A former FBI special agent is weighing in on Trump's pick to lead the law enforcement agency where she once served, suggesting several concrete steps she says will help it regain the trust of all Americans.
"Over the last several years, the FBI became politically and socially weaponized. That must end," former FBI special agent and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital." Those responsible for the bureau’s destruction must be held accountable with tangible consequences."
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday announced he intends to nominate Kashyap "Kash" Patel to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, who Trump nominated in 2017 during his first term in office.
"I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People."
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Wray is currently serving a 10-year appointment that began in 2017. He could either resign from his post or be fired.
In his post, Trump wrote that Patel "played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution."
"It is of paramount importance that the new FBI director reform the bureau into an agency that Americans can trust, depend on for unbiased law enforcement and protect them while upholding the Constitution," Parker said. "The FBI needs to get back to its true mission of fighting crime, keeping communities safe and be the agency that solid agents can once again be proud to work for."
Parker added that the new FBI director must overhaul the culture of the agency.
"When I was an FBI special agent, they always drilled into our heads the mantra ‘Needs of the Bureau,’ which I strongly denounced. It should not be the needs of the bureau, it should be the needs of the American people. As an FBI special agent, my salary came from the taxpayers. They were the ones I was sworn to protect. They were my boss," Parker said.
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Parker said it is time for honor to be restored at the bureau and that the FBI needs to raise its hiring standards.
"The FBI director should inspire the confidence of the American people and the law enforcement sworn to protect our great nation," Parker said.
She went on to list several concrete actions she would like to see taken.
"ODI [Office of Diversity and Inclusion] must be reassessed as anything other than law enforcement responsibilities is a dangerous distraction. FBI headquarters must be trimmed down substantially and agents need to be sent back to the field offices to fight crime. The FBI also needs to raise their hiring standards and hire only the best and brightest based only on meritocracy," Parker continued.
The FBI declined to comment on the remarks made by Parker, but issued a statement to Fox News Digital about the bureau's work to continue to protect Americans.
"Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats. Director Wray's focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for," the statement read.
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Patel has vowed to restore integrity to the FBI if he is confirmed.
"It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President Trump to serve as Director of the FBI," Patel said in a statement. "Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people."
Patel, 44, is a former national security official who advised the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense during Trump's first administration.
Before joining the first Trump administration, Patel served as the national security adviser and senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he reported to Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. In that role, he helped oversee the House probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and uncovered unlawful surveillance of the Trump campaign by the FBI and DOJ.
Patel published a book last year called "Government Gangsters" in which he railed against the "deep state," the weaponization of the federal government and the Russia investigation into Trump.
In his book, Patel explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed "Overhauling the FBI" in which he did not mince words about the state of the law enforcement agency.
"Things are bad. There’s no denying it. The FBI has gravely abused its power, threatening not only the rule of law, but the very foundations of self-government at the root of our democracy. But this isn’t the end of the story. Change is possible at the FBI and desperately needed," he wrote.
"The fact is we need a federal agency that investigates federal crimes, and that agency will always be at risk of having its powers abused," he continued, advocating for the firing of "corrupt actors," "aggressive" congressional oversight over the agency, complete overhauls of special counsels and moving the FBI out of Washington, D.C.
"Most importantly, we need to get the FBI the hell out of Washington, D.C.," he wrote. "There is no reason for the nation’s law enforcement agency to be centralized in the swamp. Keeping the FBI in its behemoth Washington HQ building only allows for institutional capture and incentivizes senior leadership in the FBI to lose focus on their mission and learn how to play political games instead, currying favor with politicians and cultivating relationships with the press to advance their career."
Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.