‘These Regimes Do Not End Well’: Group of Former NatSec Officials Warn of FBI ‘Purge’ in Open Letter to Agency
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
An advocacy group opposed to President Donald Trump and made up of former national security officials has issued an open letter to current FBI officials warning about an ongoing ‘purge’ within the agency.
The letter describes the recent firings of “seasoned FBI leaders” Agents Brian Driscoll, Michael Feinberg, and Walter Giardina as “part of a broader campaign to dismantle the FBI’s long-standing independence and recast it as a tool of political loyalty.”
It goes on to cite reports that the firings were “tied to perceived personal disloyalty” to President Donald Trump, describing FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino as “unqualified political loyalists… whose resumes do not meet the basic standards for leadership.”
Former Acting Deputy Driscoll was “clapped out of an FBI facility in Virginia as more than 200 people paid tribute” after he refused to carry out Trump administration plans to fire agents involved in the January 6 investigation, MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reported on Friday.
The Steady State was formed in 2016 in opposition to Trump by former intel and security officials “who believe that President Trump, unfit for the Presidency, presents a clear and present danger to America’s safety and security.”
The organization now claims more than 300 members both sides of the political aisle, describing their mission as a “nonpartisan” goal to “resolutely oppose elected officials and candidates who violate our laws.”
“We write to you as former members of the U.S. intelligence, diplomatic, defense, and national security communities—veterans of service to both Republican and Democratic administrations,” the letter begins. “We are The Steady State, a nonpartisan group of professionals who have served in the CIA, FBI, State Department, Department of Defense, NSA, DHS, and the uniformed military. Together, we have spent our careers upholding the Constitution and defending the United States from foreign and domestic threats.”
Read more from the letter below.
It is from that shared legacy of service that we now write in deep concern and solidarity.
The recent removals of seasoned FBI leaders—most notably Agents Brian Driscoll, Michael Feinberg, Walter Giardina—are not isolated personnel matters. They appear part of a broader campaign to dismantle the FBI’s long-standing independence and recast it as a tool of political loyalty. That such dismissals are reportedly tied to perceived personal disloyalty to former President Donald Trump is profoundly alarming.
The elevation of unqualified political loyalists, such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino—whose resumes do not meet the basic standards for leadership of the world’s premier law enforcement agency—makes the pattern unmistakable. It is not about reform. It is about control. The aim, it seems, is to transform the FBI from a respected, constitutionally grounded investigative service into a personal enforcement arm of a political figure.
We have seen these dynamics abroad—leaders who demand loyalty from security services not to the law, but to themselves. These regimes do not end well. The FBI has long been a bulwark against such corruption: an institution where rule of law and civil liberties are held in balance with the demands of national security. Its independence is not a bureaucratic feature; it is a democratic necessity.
To our friends and colleagues in the Bureau, past and present: we recognize the pressure you are under. We honor your service and the sacrifices you’ve made—quietly, honorably, often without recognition. And we want you to know: we stand with you.
Your integrity matters. Your courage matters. The nation is watching, and will be inspired by the FBI. And history will remember.
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