Humiliation for Kash Patel as ‘hollowed out’ FBI hits new low… and agents deploy secret tactics for survival: ‘Never been this bad’

Inside the hulking concrete edifice of the J Edgar Hoover building in downtown Washington, the nation’s most experienced federal agents are paralyzed by fear.

Instead of zoning in on high profile investigations involving cybersecurity or counterintelligence, some agents find themselves mundanely clicking through internal trainings, the type workers with 9-to-5 desk jobs take pains to avoid. 

In the wild, this behavior is referred to as ‘playing possum’ – and in the FBI, too, current and former agents say it is a means of survival during the turbulent reign of the agency’s director, Kash Patel.

‘I’ve had people say, “I just go in and sit at my desk and don’t do anything… basically responding to emails, taking the virtual academy classes, and staying out of trouble,” because [they] don’t want to get fired,’ one former agent told the Daily Mail. 

It is a dynamic echoed by other agents, who spoke anonymously to the Daily Mail due to concerns of retaliation.

Worry about termination for being assigned to the ‘wrong’ cases later scrutinized by the Trump administration has prompted some agents to quietly pull back on substantive casework. 

‘You can’t work under a culture of fear,’ one agent said. 

And while the abrupt resignation of FBI deputy director Andrew Bailey last month took many in Washington by surprise, insiders say his exit merely exposes a deeper crisis: a bureau drained of expertise and ruled by fears of retaliation.

The Daily Mail spoke to five current and former FBI agents with knowledge of the situation inside the bureau. 

‘I would say morale has never been this bad ever’ at the FBI, one former agent said.

‘They are leading with intimidation,’ a second agent said of the director and his top brass. ‘And honestly, I think a lot of the culture has shifted towards, “What will make the director happy,” instead of what is actually best for the division and the mission.’

The FBI ‘is in bad shape,’ said another individual with knowledge of the bureau’s operations. In their view, the FBI has been ‘hollowed out’ by a loss of experienced agents at FBI headquarters across its 56 field offices. 

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office, all six of the FBI’s executive assistant directors were fired or ordered to resign or retire from the bureau to avoid termination, according to a lawsuit filed by former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll. Others resigned on their own.

‘The people that don’t want to work for this organization anymore are leaving,’ one person said.

The FBI has also demoted, reassigned or removed multiple Special Agents in Charge, prompting concern from both Senate Democrats and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Agents Association (FBIAA), a voluntary professional association that represents more than 14,000 active and retired FBI special agents. 

The FBIAA is ‘deeply concerned by reports that FBI Special Agents – case agents and senior leaders alike – are going to be summarily fired without due process for doing their jobs investigating potential federal crimes,’ a spokesperson for FBIAA said in a statement last August.

‘Agents are not given the option to pick and choose their cases, and these agents carried out their assignments with professionalism and integrity. Most importantly, they followed the law,’ the FBIAA spokesperson added. 

Becoming a true expert in a field of investigative work takes roughly 15 years, one agent estimated, and among those leaving are the mentors who often teach younger agents how to work cases. 

Those who remain are questioning who replaces them. Several sources cited the FBI’s decision to drop automatic disqualification for applicants with past involvement in prostitution or bestiality as particularly concerning.

The bestiality issue ’caused a lot of people to lose confidence’ in the judgment of FBI leadership, one FBI agent said.

‘People are asking, “What exactly are we trying to build here?” they added. ‘Are we trying to maintain an organization with a certain level of expertise, standards, and professionalism, or are we simply trying to fill seats?’

Leadership has also left its own people in the dark. Last month, the FBI told current and former staff that hackers – allegedly the group ShinyHunters – had stolen their names, addresses, job titles and Social Security numbers.

But in the weeks since, those impacted by the breach have heard ‘zilch,’ one person said. There’s been no further help or indication on how the bureau is fixing vulnerabilities. 

Patel – who previously sparked widespread outrage after footage emerged of him partying in the locker room with the US men’s hocky team after their Olympics win – is seen by some inside the FBI as appearing to be out of touch, image-obsessed and ill-equipped for the job. Some expressed sympathy for a director they believe is poorly advised and inexperienced in day-to-day operations.

Patel ‘insists’ on disproportionate credit for FBI ‘wins,’ one former agent said. Others said he wants to ‘look and behave’ like an agent – wearing the badge, touting statistics – while remaining disconnected from nearly all of them.

The FBI did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment. A spokesperson for Director Patel did not respond to a separate request for comment. 

A spokesperson for the White House disputed suggestions that Trump’s FBI director has struggled to adjust to the role, telling the Daily Mail that Patel ‘is doing a fantastic job helping keep the Homeland safe, combatting terrorism, and investigating crimes.’

‘Thanks to President Trump and Director Patel, the FBI helped delivered the largest decrease in violent crime in American history and safer communities for Americans,’ White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

Others familiar with Patel’s leadership touted the 9.3 percent drop in violent crime in the US during 2025 – the largest annual decline on record, as well as major decreases in other areas.

But Patel’s appetite for credit and chest-thumping adulation has burned other agencies. 

Patel boasted on social media of foiling an alleged attack plot at this summer’s White House UFC event before all the suspects were arrested and while the case was under seal.   

The Secret Service, which said it had run the probe ‘from the beginning,’ was furious. ‘We all woke up this morning to see this on Twitter,’ one official told MS NOW.

Last year he announced that a potential suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination was in custody, only for the individual to be cleared hours later.

Then there’s his alleged use of the FBI plane for personal purposes, and his alleged use of taxpayer-funded helicopter tours and jet ski excursions with his now-fiancée Alexis Wilkins, which prompted concerns from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year. 

Patel bitterly denied allegations that he has inappropriately used FBI resources at an oversight hearing last month. ‘Total lie,’ he told Democrats when pressed on the allegations. 

Patel has pushed back on the notion that the FBI ‘purged’ agents who investigated the January 6 US Capitol riot or other politically sensitive probes – most recently, in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.

The FBI Agents’ Association has warned the firings risk ‘severely weaken[ing] the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats.’ 

More than a dozen agents who worked on politically sensitive probes have sued for alleged wrongful termination, and have since amended their lawsuit to represent a broader class of more than 50 former agents. 

The former agents are seeking reinstatement to their roles, as well as back pay and formal declaration that their removals violated due process.

Both the former agents and lawyers for the Trump administration will appear in federal court later this month for a motions hearing on the matter.

Regardless of the outcome, however, the agents who spoke to the Daily Mail said they believe that restoring the bureau’s reputation will take many years. 

One agent said: ‘I don’t think the leadership [in place] has the necessary character to do it right.’