FBI Director Kash Patel Abruptly Closes Internal Watchdog Office Overseeing Surveillance Compliance

If one thing is doing the Federal Investigation Office well, it is collective monitoring. Several years ago, Prosecutor William Bar has created an internal office to reduce the abuse of the FBI’s use of the controversial monitoring law. But recently, Cash Patel, the current director of the Federal Investigation Office (, is the paradoxes, the current director) Cash Patel, without any explanation.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Patel suddenly closed the internal audit office established by Bar in 2020. The leader’s leader, Cindy Hall, retired suddenly. People familiar with the executing order told the closure of the International Energy Agency Group mentioned above, along with the Integrity and Compliance Office, part of the internal reorganization. According to the sources, the sources stated that Hall was trying to expand the work of the office, but her attempts for new employees were suspended due to the freezing of the Trump administration.

The Internal Audit Office was in response to the controversy surrounding the FBI of Article 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Monitoring Act. The 2008 law is primarily dealt with monitoring non -Americans abroad. However, Gizmodo, by e -mail, told the FBI “offended his ability to search for Americans’ contacts by the way” collected under Article 702 “to conduct unjustified espionage.

Patel has not issued any official comment regarding his decision to close the office. But Elizabeth Joytin, Supreme Director of the Brennan Justice Center, told Gizmodo via email, “It is difficult to send this step with Mr. Patel’s announced concerns about the FBI’s use of Article 702.”

Last year, congress re -mandated Article 702 despite concerns about dealing with their misuse. Although Congress presented some reforms, the updated legislation has actually expanded the capabilities of the government. At that time, Patel criticized the passage of the law, saying that former FBI director Christopher Rai, who has one day tried to prosecute, “was arrested last year using 702 methods of gathering against Americans 274,000 times.” (According to the New York Times, Patel is likely to refer to an opinion in the Fisa Court, which has been raised for the year 2023, which used the internal results office to determine the inquiries of the FBI 278,000 over several years).

According to Goitein, the office “played a major role in exposing the FBI’s violations of Article 702, including searches that were not justified on the connection of members of Congress, judges and demonstrators.” Ironically, Patel inadvertently led to its establishment after attacking FISA requests for federal investigations to repair previous consultations in the Trump campaign in 2018 while investigating the intervention of the potential Russian elections. Trump and his supporters used Pateel attacks to push their novel to reject any concerns. Last year, former actor Divin Nunes, who is now the CEO of Truth Social, said that Patel was a “essential role” in revealing “the trick and finding evidence of poor government violations.”

Although Patel often promoted conspiracies, the Ministry of Justice conducted an investigation into the FBI investigation that raised concerns about the “basic and basic mistakes” committed. In response, the internal audit office bar was established, saying: “What happened to Trump’s presidential campaign and his subsequent administration after the president was elected as due to the American people, it should not happen again.”

But since he took office, Patel changed his melody around Fisa. During his confirmation session, Patel referred to Section 702 as a “critical tool” and said: “I am proud of the reforms that were implemented and I am proud to work with Congress to move forward to implement more.” However, the reforms do not mean much. He also noticed Goyen, “without a separate office dedicated to compliance with observation, [the FBI’s] Violations can be violated without deterrence. “

An annual transparency report from the National Intelligence Director’s office shows that the search for the FBI for Americans has decreased. Last year, the FBI used only 5,518 inquiries about Americans, compared to 57,094 in 2023 and 119,383 in 2022. While this looks like progress, this does not mean that the internal audit office is being done.

“The FBI must maintain its audit operations, and if they do so, the FBI must clarify who is responsible for continuing internal audits and ensuring that the supervision is being completed,” Scott said.