The FBI has intensified the use of polygraph tests on its own personnel in a move aimed at identifying internal critics of Director Kash Patel. The alleged crackdown, reportedly involving dozens of staffers, signals a sharp shift from traditional FBI protocols, where lie-detector tests were generally reserved for cases involving espionage, corruption, or serious misconduct.
Sources cited by the Times say senior FBI employees have been questioned about whether they criticised Patel or disclosed information to the media. One agent was specifically asked if they had made any negative remarks about Patel, while another was reportedly grilled as part of an internal investigation into who leaked details about the director’s unusual request for a service weapon.
Growing concerns among staff
The practice of using polygraphs in this manner is viewed by some as a major departure from precedent. Michael Feinberg, a former senior agent in the FBI’s Norfolk office, claimed he was threatened with a polygraph test over his long-standing friendship with Peter Strzok, the counterintelligence officer who led the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation and was later fired for expressing anti-Trump sentiments in private messages.
Feinberg ultimately resigned from the bureau without undergoing the test. In a scathing critique published in Lawfare, he accused Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, of prioritising “ideological purity” over operational expertise. “Under Patel and Bongino, subject matter expertise and operational competence are readily sacrificed for ideological purity and the ceaseless politicization of the workforce,” he wrote. The FBI has so far refused to confirm or deny the details of the report, stating that it does not comment on “personnel matters and internal deliberations.”
Patel has long been a controversial figure. His book Government Gangsters included an appendix listing his personal enemies, which has alarmed agency veterans and civil liberties advocates. They fear he could be politicising the bureau, which was repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump during his time in office.
Adding to the atmosphere of internal tension, the FBI is reportedly conducting criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey. The probes stem from a referral by current CIA Director John Ratcliffe and are believed to be connected to the Obama- and Trump-era officials’ roles in investigations involving the president.