In an exclusive interview filmed earlier in May during National Police Week, FBI Director Kash Patel sat down with Kyle Reyes of the 1776 Project and Matthew Silverman, who serves as the National President for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) to discuss the agency’s greatest accomplishments since Director Patel assumed his role and what can be expected next from the agency.
While sitting with Reyes and Silverman, Director Patel was asked about some of the accomplishments the FBI has seen under the current administration, to which the FBI Director delved into the statistics ranging from the decreasing homicide rate nationally to the amount of fentanyl seized, which was enough to take the lives of over 170 million Americans.
Additionally, with regard to national security, Director Patel explained the surge in arrests made of alleged spies operating within the country, saying, “We've had more spy arrests at this FBI over the last year. We're up 44% from 2024 from China, Russia, and Iran. Those looking to steal our nation's secrets, not just military and intelligence secrets, but agricultural secrets.”
Reyes brought up the topic of how the agency handles the prioritization of various efforts, asking Director Patel, “How do you begin to prioritize and separate ‘Okay, this is a small issue, relatively speaking, that needs attention - but now we have a national security threat over here.’ How do you, as a director, even begin to prioritize?”
Director Patel explained that the agency has adopted a framework where “the priorities are set by the administrataion,” thereby making the agency mission easy to understand and actionable.
“President Trump has been so pro-law enforcement and so for safeguarding Americans' lives, be it here in the US or overseas, that that mission set has been clearly laid out,” Director Patel stated.
When questioned about the mainstream media’s relentless efforts to discredit the current administration as well as Director Patel’s efforts with the FBI, the FBI Director brushed off the media spin cycle as activists “complaining about things they made up” to avoid covering the successes of the agency and administration.
“They're complaining about things that they make up to help basically take actual good reporting that they should be doing, making up false information to take away from our successes. But the thing is, it doesn't matter to me. Doesn't matter to anyone here in D.C. When we go across the country, when you guys go home, you're seeing the results and the communities are safer than they've ever been,” Director Patel emphasized.
During the closing of the interview, Director Patel foreshadowed what Americans can expect to see from the FBI in the future, detailing a more efficient “pipeline” in recruiting agents as well as trimming the “bureaucracy” to better serve today and tomorrow’s agents.
“If you go out and talk to folks that are here now, you'll see how much of the bureaucracy that we got rid of and how focused we are on actually taking care of the men and women at the FBI. That, I think, maybe more than anything else, sets the stage to bring in the next generation, but also takes care of the current one,” Director Patel concluded.
Check out the full interview below:
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