FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL: We have made America safer in just one year

On February 20, 2025, I had the grant of being confirmed arsenic the Ninth Director of the FBI.

In that time, overmuch has happened. Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the FBI and our partners astatine the state, section and national level person helped present 1 of the safest periods America has seen successful decades.

When I sat earlier the Senate for my confirmation, I promised to refocus the FBI connected its halfway mission: crush convulsive transgression and support the homeland, fortify transparency and rebuild nationalist trust. One twelvemonth in, my squad and I person worked each time to crook those words into action. We delivered historical results.

From 2024 to 2025, the FBI saw a 197% summation successful arrests, from 34,000 to 67,000. We disrupted 1,800 gangs and transgression enterprises, a 210% increase. Agents seized much than 2,100 kilos of deadly fentanyl — capable to termination 150 cardinal Americans — up 31%. That ngo besides extended overseas, wherever my travel to Beijing resulted successful a historical statement to unopen disconnected the travel of fentanyl precursor chemicals astatine the source, straight targeting the proviso chains poisoning American communities. Arrests tied to Nihilistic Violent Extremism, including offenders who prey connected children, roseate 490%. More than 6,200 kid victims were located, up 22%. Espionage arrests accrued 35%. We captured six of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives successful 1 twelvemonth — 2 much than the entirety of the anterior medication — a radical collectively connected the tally for much than 50 years, including Ryan Wedding. Nationwide, the execution complaint fell by a grounds 20%, a level not seen successful a century.

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President Trump fto bully cops beryllium cops portion giving america the resources needed to execute the mission. The results talk for themselves.

But the occurrence of this medication and this FBI goes good beyond the numbers. Over the past year, quiescent but consequential transformations person taken spot wrong the Bureau — changes galore Americans whitethorn ne'er spot connected cablegram quality oregon societal media, but which person paid important dividends.

From time one, we reoriented the FBI to conscionable modern threats with 4 wide priorities: Crush Violent Crime, Defend the Homeland, Restore Public Trust and enforce fierce organizational accountability. Under the anterior administration, convulsive transgression hardly cracked the apical 10 FBI priorities. Today, it is simply a cardinal focus, which is wherefore convulsive transgression arrests doubled to much than 30,000 successful 2025.

Shifting resources to defending the homeland helped america seizure immoderate of the astir wanted criminals successful the world: Nicholas Maduro, wanted by the Department of Justice for narcoterrorism; Mohammad Sharifullah, an alleged cardinal ISIS operative successful the Abbey Gate termination bombing successful Kabul; and Zubayr Al-Bakoush, a cardinal coconspirator successful the 2012 Benghazi onslaught that killed 4 Americans: Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty. We besides disrupted and stopped 3 abstracted panic plots during the vacation season, preventing imaginable mass-casualty attacks and ensuring Americans could observe safely.

To reconstruct transparency and oversight, we produced much than 40,000 pages of documents to Congress successful our archetypal twelvemonth alone, a level of disclosure that represents much than treble the combined papers accumulation of my predecessors.

We reduced the Bureau’s dependence connected bloated Washington, D.C. bureaucracy and enactment information and information resources backmost into Main Street America. We moved 1,000 agents retired of the National Capital Region into tract offices crossed the country, with 1,000 much quality and enactment unit to travel this year. We besides ignited the precocious grooming installation astatine Redstone Arsenal successful Huntsville, Alabama, including the first-ever instrumentality enforcement counter-UAS grooming program.

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We restructured operations truthful that tract offices nary longer study done a azygous bottleneck astatine headquarters. Dividing offices into determination structures accrued accountability and responsiveness to the public. We eliminated units that failed the mission, including the politicized CR-15 squad, removed unit who acted unethically, and rebuilt enactment astir results.

The FBI is present faster and much responsive, with a heavier absorption connected technology. We established the Director’s Strategic Information Center (DSIC), a afloat overhauled accusation hub focused connected proactive menace recognition and 24/7 monitoring of captious incidents to dramatically amended effect times. We besides launched a Technology Working Group, led by Dan Bongino, to assistance fortify nationalist information infrastructure done artificial quality and enhanced biometric coordination with interagency partners. Rather than continuing a patchwork approach, we engaged private-sector partners to rebuild halfway systems and expanded the FBI’s enactment relation successful the National Counterintelligence Task Force to amended coordinate efforts against hostile quality actors targeting the United States.

After decades of hold and excess, President Trump facilitated the woody to unopen down the Hoover Building project. We canceled a minimum $5 cardinal taxpayer-funded program that would not person opened for astatine slightest a decennary and alternatively moved toward utilizing the existing Ronald Reagan Building, providing a harmless and modern office astatine a fraction of the outgo to the American people.

Perhaps astir importantly, we made it a apical precedence for tract leaders to enactment manus successful manus with authorities and section instrumentality enforcement. Last year, we created a bid of Homeland Security Task Forces — historical partnerships with authorities officials focused connected removing convulsive criminals from American streets. In Virginia, that effort resulted successful astir 600 arrests successful conscionable 1 month. We replicated this exemplary successful Memphis and Washington, D.C. nether the President’s Task Force. In those 2 cities alone, convulsive transgression is down 30%, portion homicides are down astir 70% successful D.C. and 50% successful Memphis. We besides established the first-ever Law Enforcement Partner Engagement Council (LEPEC), giving section instrumentality enforcement a imperishable spot astatine the array wrong the FBI.

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By the numbers, President Trump’s FBI delivered a grounds year. But the organization changes implemented implicit the past twelvemonth spell acold beyond statistics, arrests, oregon headlines. We person rebuilt and remade the FBI into an enactment designed to amended service the American radical and support the state safer for decades to come, alongside our partners astatine the Department of Justice who proceed to prosecute atrocious actors and clasp them accountable.

As for us, we volition proceed to enactment the Mission First.

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