Right-Wing Commentator Named F.B.I. Deputy Director


The choice of Dan Bongino is a radical departure from the bureau’s history of having a veteran agent serve in the key role that oversees operations.

Dan Bongino’s ascension comes at a time of enormous upheaval at the F.B.I. as the Justice Department has pushed out some senior executives who, collectively, have decades of experience running the different divisions of the bureau.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Reporting from Washington 


Feb. 23, 2025

Dan Bongino, a former New York City police officer and Secret Service agent turned right-wing pundit and podcaster, will be the next deputy director of the F.B.I., President Trump said on Sunday night.


Mr. Trump, making the announcement on his social media site, said the newly installed F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, had named Mr. Bongino to the No. 2 post at the country’s most powerful law enforcement agency. The role of deputy director does not require Senate confirmation, meaning two steadfast Trump loyalists will effectively be at the uppermost reaches of an agency known for its tradition of independence.


The announcement came about an hour after the F.B.I. Agents Association told its members that Mr. Patel had privately acknowledged that the next deputy director should be an F.B.I. agent. The apparent disconnect in selecting Mr. Bongino has intensified mistrust among the rank and file.


The F.B.I. did not respond to a request for a comment.


Mr. Bongino, in a statement posted on social media on Monday, praised F.B.I. staff members as “dedicated people” who “deserve leadership that will back them up, protect their mission and ensure they can do their jobs.”

He added: “I’m here to work. I’m here to lead. And I’m here to ensure that America’s law enforcement institutions uphold the values and integrity they were built upon.”


In the past, F.B.I. directors have selected senior agents with extensive experience to essentially run the bureau’s operations, a complex and grueling job that requires working closely with foreign partners and navigating sensitive investigations.


The choice of Mr. Bongino is a radical and abrupt departure from that practice and raises startling questions about how two people who have never served as F.B.I. agents will oversee the vast surveillance and investigative powers of an agency of 38,000 people and a budget of about $11 billion.


The combination of Mr. Patel and Mr. Bongino will represent the least experienced leadership pair in the bureau’s history. It is also all but certain to prompt concerns about how the men, who have freely peddled misinformation and embraced partisan politics, will run an agency typically insulated from White House interference.

Mr. Bongino’s ascension comes at a time of enormous upheaval at the agency as the Justice Department has pushed out some senior executives who, collectively, have decades of experience running the different divisions of the bureau.


It is unclear what will happen to the interim leaders, Brian Driscoll and Robert C. Kissane, who served as the acting director and acting deputy director until Mr. Patel’s confirmation. Their initial refusal to accede to the Justice Department’s demand for the names of bureau personnel who investigated the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, made them well liked internally, willing, in the view of many inside the bureau, to stand up to what was perceived as political interference.


Many had hoped the two would remain in Washington to help Mr. Patel run the F.B.I.


In an internal newsletter distributed to agents before Mr. Trump’s announcement, the head of the agents association, Natalie Bara, said that in a meeting with Mr. Patel last month, she and the group’s vice president, Jen Morrow, had urged that his lieutenant “be an onboard, active special agent, as has been the case for 117 years for many compelling reasons.”