Kash Patel

Kashyap Pramod Patel, known as Kash Patel, was born in 1980 in Queens, New York.⁠[1]

Patel attended the University of Richmond from 1998 to 2002, receiving a B.A. in 2002, and Pace School of Law from 2002 to 2005, receiving a J.D. in 2005; in 2004 he earned an International Law Certificate from the Faculty of Laws of University College LondonUniversity College LondonUniversity College London (UCL) is a university in London, England, United Kingdom. Founded in 1826, it is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry. As a student he interned with Judge George W. Lindberg of the U.S. District Court in Chicago and at the New York State Judicial Institute.⁠[1]

From August 2005 Patel worked as a clerk and trainee at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, serving as an assistant public defender from April 2006 to September 2009; from September 2009 to January 2014 he was an assistant federal public defender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.⁠[1]

From January 2014 to April 2017 Patel was a trial attorney in the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division; from March 2016 to April 2017 he also served as the department’s liaison to Joint Special Operations Command with the Joint Interagency Task Force–National Capital Region.⁠[1]

From April 2017 to March 2018 Patel was senior counsel for counterterrorism on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and from March 2018 to January 2019 he was the committee’s national security advisor; in January and February 2019 he was senior counsel to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.⁠[1]

From February 2019 to November 2020 Patel served on the White House National Security Council, first as director for multilateral affairs and then as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism; from February to June 2020 he was principal deputy to the acting director of national intelligence at the Office of the Director of National IntelligenceOffice of the Director of National IntelligenceThe Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is an independent U.S. federal agency established under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Led by the Director of National Intelligence, it leads and integrates the U.S. Intelligence Community of 18 agencies and organizations.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

From November 2020 to January 2021 Patel was chief of staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the U.S. Department of Defense.⁠[1]

From 2021 Patel served as managing member or director of several companies, including Trishul, LLC and Dal Forno, LLC; as of his nomination questionnaire he had been an unpaid director of Trump MediaTrump Media & Technology GroupTrump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is a publicly traded company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. It operates Truth Social, the Truth+ streaming service and the Truth.Fi financial technology brand. The private company was formed in 2021 and completed its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) in 2024. A separate proposed merger with fusion-energy company TAE Technologies remained subject to the filing and approval process in late September 2026.Open the full entry and Technology Group since March 2022 and a director and officer of Kash Foundation, Inc. since April 2022. The books listed in the questionnaire include Government Gangsters and the series The Plot Against The KingGordon RyanGordon Ryan is an American submission grappler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who won multiple ADCC World Championship titles and submitted André Galvão in the 2022 superfight, and is regarded by many as one of the finest no-gi grapplers; he announced the end of his competitive career in February 2026.Open the full entry.⁠[1]

On November 30, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced in a social media post that he would nominate Patel as FBI director, replacing Christopher Wray, who had been appointed in 2017 to a 10-year term.⁠[2]

On January 30, 2025, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing on Patel’s nomination as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the hearing record is S. Hrg. 119-134.⁠[3]

On February 20, 2025, the Senate confirmed Patel as director of the FBI for a 10-year term by a vote of 51–49 (roll-call vote No. 61). All yeas came from Republicans; the nays came from 45 Democrats, 2 independents and Republican senators Susan CollinsSusan CollinsSusan Collins (born 1952) is an American Republican politician who has represented Maine in the U.S. Senate since 1997 and chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Seeking a sixth term in November 2026, she conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson on November 4.Open the full entry and Lisa Murkowski.⁠[4]

On February 21, 2025, Patel was sworn in as FBI director in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, with Attorney General Pam Bondi speaking at the ceremony.⁠[5]

On September 15, 2026, Patel, as FBI director, submitted written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The statement said that since January 2025 the bureau had captured nine of its Ten Most Wanted fugitives, made close to 54,000 violent-crime arrests and identified or located more than 11,000 child victims, and that in 2026 it had 1,900 domestic terrorism cases and 2,600 international terrorism cases. It asked Congress to reauthorize Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702, which had lapsed in 2026, before November 20.⁠[6]

Federal Bureau of Investigation: Official website: https://www.fbi.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Official website: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]