US EditionKash Patel gutted FBI counterintelligence team tasked with tracking Iranian threats days before US strikes, sources say
At least a dozen FBI counterintelligence staffers were removed due to prior involvement in the Mar-a-Lago probe, raising concerns about impacts on Iran threat monitoring.
- Kash Patel ordered mass firings of at least a dozen CI-12 staff days before U.S. strikes on Iran, according to sources, undermining counterintelligence efforts.
- The firings followed Patel's claim that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and the FBI secretly obtained his and Susie Wiles's phone records during the DOJ investigation into classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
- Internal critics said several former FBI officials warned that the removals completely gutted and undermined CI-12's ability to handle classified documents and spy cases.
- Officials said the moves left many DOJ National Security Division offices with at least half their staff gone, raising concern they could hamper counterterrorism and intelligence work after the military operation.
- A joint FBI-DHS unclassified report described Iran's security services as 'adaptable and opportunistic' and domestic law enforcement has heightened monitoring after military conflict, while CI-12 had tracked threats following the 2020 strike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
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45 Articles
Kash Patel gutted FBI team tracking Iranian threats days before US strikes, sources say
The dismissals have added to concern inside the DOJ and FBI that counterterrorism and intelligence investigations in the wake of the military operation in Iran could be hampered by a mass exodus of national security experts.
The last layoffs of the FBI director led to the dismantling of a key spy unit
FBI Director Kash Patel Purged Iran Experts Before Donald Trump’s Strikes: Details
Photo Credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Kash Patel took extraordinary actions just before the President’s attacks in Iran. A new bombshell story says the FBI Director fired an elite team of agents who specialize in foreign threats from the Middle East. Donald Trump recently joined forces with Israel, launching attacks on Iran over the weekend. Some have deemed the attacks on the Middle East to be illegal. A dozen staff members of the federal ag…
FBI agents fired by Patel worked in counterintelligence, including on cases involving Iran, sources say
Many of the agents who were fired last week by FBI Director Kash Patel were assigned to a squad that worked on global counterintelligence cases, including those involving Iran, sources said.
About a week before the attacks on Iran, the FBI released twelve employees who were said to have been Iranian experts.
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