In his first television interview since taking over as FBI Director, Kash Patel laid out his bold vision for reforming the bureau and eliminating political corruption within the agency.
Appearing on Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy, Patel made it clear that his focus is on restoring trust, eliminating political bias, and bringing the FBI back to its core mission—serving the American people.
Patel noted that over 11,000 of the FBI’s 38,000 employees are stationed within a 50-mile radius of Washington, D.C., a statistic he says reflects the agency’s bloated bureaucracy and detachment from real law enforcement.
“I wanted to stay radio silent for the first month, just laser-focused on restoring law enforcement, the credibility and trust of the American people, and getting the weaponization out of there,” Patel told Gowdy.
Patel wasted no time getting results. He revealed that in just four weeks, the FBI had captured three criminals from its Most Wanted list.
“Before I got into this seat, do you know how many Most Wanted were arrested by the FBI? ZERO,” he stated. “Four weeks in, we got three, and we’re just warming up.”
Patel has pledged to further decentralize the FBI, remove deep-state corruption, and ensure that the agency focuses on law enforcement—not politics.
His reforms mark a dramatic shift for the bureau, promising accountability, transparency, and action over bureaucracy and political games.
“A large portion of one of my priorities—fighting violent crime, crushing narco-traffickers, stopping fentanyl overdoses—is happening in anytown USA across this country. They need resources in the form not just of money, but manpower,” Patel said in the interview.
“So, we’re going to reorient our assets in Washington. We’re going to look at it strategically—as we’ve been doing the last month—and send our agents, analysts, and special operations service operatives into the field to take on this violent crime explosion that has occurred over these last four or five years.”
“We want to make sure that every state and every county—be it my hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, or up in Montana, Kansas, Iowa, or Maine—is safe and secure.”
