It’s time for an FBI reboot

President Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, Kash Patel, was confirmed by the Senate in a 51-49 vote late last week. He was sworn into the office on Friday, for what is intended to be a 10-year term as Director. 

In his remarks, Patel stated his mission was to “Let good cops be cops — and rebuild trust in the FBI.”

Now is the time to return the FBI to a more focused mission — fighting violent crime. Trust will not be rebuilt by pursuing what might be seen as politically motivated investigations — and as President Trump campaigned on, his “revenge” will come in the form of success. Nothing would represent success better than an FBI working with state and local law enforcement to crush violent crime across the country.

After 9/11, the FBI was formally tasked with taking the lead on all acts of terrorism. This was a practical decision in 2001, while the government stood up the Department of Homeland Security (HLS). The FBI did an admirable job standing up Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) across the country and has built a solid record of detecting and intercepting acts of terror. Unfortunately, this terror focus has become blurred as political winds shifted and “domestic terror” threats took on increased urgency despite concerns of overreach.

Twenty-four years later, given the current emphasis on governmental reform, there isn’t a better time to continue the evolution of tasking HLS with taking the lead in terrorism prevention and investigation. This bold move would force the FBI to refocus on what it was made to do — fight violent crime.

I recall, as a local detective in the 2000s, how the FBI had notified state and local law enforcement that due to its new role as the lead terrorism investigative agency, it would be relying on locals to do more of the work it had always performed on crimes like bank robberies. I recall that it was meant to be temporary, and that the HLS evolution would eventually free the FBI to return to its crime-fighting mission. But that evolution stalled.

With bold leadership, the FBI can be retooled and refocused to provide the kind of world-class law enforcement it has been known for over the years. Whether it’s fighting organized crime and gangs or responding to complex kidnappings, serial killings, or human trafficking, our country would be better served by a mission reboot and an FBI clearly focused on violent crime.