By Allan Lengel
These are dizzying times at the FBI.
The Wall Street Journal reports that FBI officials from regional field offices listened on a video call this week to Director Kash Patel rattle off so many changes that they couldn’t tell if he was serious about all of them.
According to the Journal, Patel said:
*He was raising fitness requirements for agents and arranging a partnership between the FBI and the UFC cage-fighting league.
*He’s shifting part of the bureau’s focus from national-security work and foreign threats toward fighting violent crime.
The Journal reported that Patel has cleared out all civil-service staff in the leadership suites and replaced them with political associates; ordered 1,500 employees relocated out of Washington without money in place to pay for the move; and broke a promise he made to agents to appoint a deputy from their ranks.
The agents will be transferred to high-crime cities like Detroit and Cleveland.
