Head of the FBI under Donald Trump. Before joining the government, Mr Patel told Congress to "put on your big-boy pants" and release Jeffrey Epstein's client list, promoting the narrative that the state was suppressing explosive information about the convicted paedophile's associates.
Mr Patel co-authored a House Intelligence Committee review of the CIA's 2016 report on Russian election meddling, which was declassified by Tulsi Gabbard over the CIA's objections.
After Charlie Kirk's assassination in 2025, Mr Patel called the Southern Poverty Law Center a "partisan smear machine" and cut the FBI's longstanding ties with the non-profit.
Mr Patel has argued on Fox News that antifa is a terrorist organisation, not an amorphous social movement, citing the Department of Justice's own charging document against alleged antifa members in Texas: "We are treating them as terrorists just as we do ISIS or al-Qaeda."
Days before the Iran war began in early 2026, Mr Patel fired a dozen FBI staff, including several agents who worked in a unit monitoring threats from Iran. They were reportedly dismissed for investigating Mr Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents found at his Florida resort after his first term.
Mr Patel visited Beijing for meetings with China's public-security ministry and other agencies on fentanyl co-operation. The meetings proved productive: Chinese officials released a list of 13 chemical precursors that will require extra approvals before sale to customers in America, Canada and Mexico.
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life. Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)