Shipwreckedcrew On The Patel Appointment

I have no quarrel with anything that Shipwrecked says here, as far as recommendations go. Essentially he’s talking about reverting the Bureau to something like what it was when I joined in 1978. Obviously the tech revolution has changed a lot in how investigations run, but not as much as many want you to think. My one caveat is that reversing the flow of DEI/Woke at the FBI would be a first at ANY federal agency. Make that: at any governmental agency. It won’t be easy because there are a lot of entrenched interests.

My long expressed view is that cleaning house in the legal program has to be the top priority, because law drives the way any agency is run, whether we’re talking about investigations or personnel policy. Anyone who cares to look back through what was discovered about the Russia Hoax will quickly realize that. While there were undoubtedly bad apples among the Agent population, especially in management ranks (McCabe, Sztrok, etc.), none of the Russia Hoax would have happened without the revolving door between the FBI and DoJ. Starting with Mueller, continuing with Comey and Wray, and with many other subordinates (Lisa Page and etc.). It doesn’t matter that there was a hiatus between their time at DoJ and moving to the Bureau—it was the culture that they brought with them—with supporting cast—from DoJ. And, of course, the Russia Hoax is the tip of the iceberg. There’s lots more to be said. It’s a big job, but if you’re gonna make a start, that’s where to do it. Changing culture overnight is never easy, but decapitation strikes in a bureaucracy is definitely the way to start.

Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew

The tricky part of Patel’s confirmation is there are 3 votes who are impervious to pressure - Collins, Murkowski and McConnell.

The difference with Patel is a case can be made that he is qualified for the position, and Trump is entitled to an FBI Director he trusts given history.

I think that will likely carry the day with McConnell and possibly Collins. Murkowski is harder because she just hate Trump.

1:16 AM · Dec 1, 2024

As I said briefly last night, Patel has had exposure—important parts of a significant nature (NatSec law, interface with Congress and other Deep State agencies, criminal prosecution and defense)—to most areas of law and investigation in which the Bureau is involved.

Before you read what Shipwrecked says Patel will do, understand this. The big culture shift began with Judge Webster, well before the Woke Revolution. Webster’s brainstorm—or brainfever—was to pattern FBI management on the corporate model, specifically, on the IBM model of the time, c. 1980. Managers (supervisors SSA, Ass’t Special Agent in Charge ASAC, Special Agent in Charge SAC, Assistant Director in Charge ADIC in very large offices) were to be professional managers, on the theory that anyone can manage any program regardless of past experience. The main qualification was a willingness to relocate regularly, at every career step up the ladder—or every squiggle up the greasy pole. They were looking for climbers, careerists, not subject area experts with experience and minds informed by experience. As the years went by, the revolving door of career moves whirled faster and faster. Younger and younger. Less and less experienced in their subject areas or in evaluating human nature. More and more informed by the dominant culture.

Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew

Patel is going to be Director in order to usher pretty much every ADIC and SAC into retirement, as well as most of the non-Agent senior management.

This is the part that may be most doable—make life miserable for these relatively few people and they can retire at 50 and take consulting jobs—where few of them can actually cut it. “Non-Agent senior management” should mean primarily the legal program—as above—but now includes analysts and, crucially, HR. HR is where DEI lives, where the rubber hits the road. It’s where the normals are weeded out and the deviants get hired.

He's going to change the hiring standards and reinstitute physical fitness requirements.

Fitness requirements could turn out being the easy part. Hiring standards runs smack up against affirmative action. Being who he is may not help Patel—this is where the lawsuits will come.

He's going to find ASACs who are not DEI advocates and begin their advancement into senior management, and then advance SSAs of a similar mindset into the ASAC positions.

He needs to curtail "volunteerism" as the basis for initial transfer onto a management track and place more emphasis on demonstrated excellence as a squad agent. If you let the idiot squad agents volunteer to go into management, and then make them squad supervisors, you get what you deserve out the other side.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Any Special Agent or Analyst who thinks any part of their job coincides with the social justice objectives then learned as undergrads needs to be ushered out the door. The FBI investigates crimes -- it does not engage in "social justice" analysis to sort among the criminals it thinks are most deserving of attention.

Again, not so easy. Most people in a bureaucracy learn to keep their mouths shut. The loudmouths can be weeded out in time, but a true culture change takes more time. It’s not just hiring standards that matter, as above, in the sense of on paper qualifications. Personal character and convictions are crucial, and finding those people requires probing background investigations. Unless character is a key part of the hiring equation, culture change won’t take root. The question is, can the FBI reform itself when the Chief Executive has repeatedly demonstrated that he isn’t really committed to that type of reform?