section_path: Legal and governmental career (2006–2020)/National Security Counsel aide and deputy director of national intelligence (2019–2020)
section_name: National Security Counsel aide and deputy director of national intelligence (2019–2020)
paragraph_text: National Security Counsel aide and deputy director of national intelligence (2019–2020)
  
  In February 2019, Patel joined the National Security Council, purportedly on Sean Hannity 's recommendation. According to colleagues who spoke to The New York Times, Patel "took few notes in meetings" and was inexperienced for the position. He was considered a "must-hire, directed by the president" for the council. Trump's national security advisor John Bolton and his deputy Charles Kupperman named Patel to the International Organizations and Alliances, a directorate that advances the positions of the United States at the United Nations.
  
  In April 2019, amid an effort by Rudy Giuliani to discredit evidence against Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, Patel shifted his work to Ukraine. According to the Times, Trump personally discussed documents involving Ukraine with Patel, although their communications were separate from those by Giuliani and the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland. Telephone records detailed in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's December report on the impeachment inquiry revealed a 25-minute call between Giuliani and Patel in May. In an interview with CBS News, Patel said that the call was personal.
  
  In July 2019, Patel was appointed as senior director of the counterterrorism directorate of the National Security Council (NSC). Congressional testimony by Fiona Hill, a senior director for Europe and Ukraine at the NSC, purportedly revealed that Patel had directly given Trump negative information about Ukraine. Hill warned her staff to be "very careful" about communicating with him. Further testimony by Alexander Vindman, the director of European affairs, corroborated Hill's statements. After Patel misrepresented himself as an expert on Ukraine, Trump's advisors instructed Vindman not to debrief Trump following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 's inauguration, believing that such a debriefing would confuse Trump. Patel told Axios ' s Jonathan Swan that he had not discussed Ukraine with Trump.
  
  In February 2020, Politico reported that Patel had become a senior advisor to Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence. After Andrew P. Hallman 's resignation, Patel became the principal deputy director of national intelligence. He was given a mandate to "clean house" and promptly reduced the staffing of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Patel was involved in reviewing the office's staff. He returned as senior director of the NSC counterterrorism directorate after John Ratcliffe was confirmed as director of National Intelligence in May.
  
  In August 2020, Patel and Roger D. Carstens, the special envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to Damascus to meet with Ali Mamlouk, the director of Syria 's National Security Bureau, and in October, Bloomberg News reported that he had met with an unnamed Syrian official to discuss releasing Austin Tice, an American journalist who was captured in 2012, and Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American therapist who disappeared in 2017; in May 2024, U.S. national security officials told Kamalmaz's family that they had obtained intelligence indicating he had died in captivity. Patel was involved in the 2020 Nigeria hostage rescue, falsely informing the Department of Defense that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had gotten approval to enter Nigeria 's airspace. The plane was close to landing when Secretary of Defense Mark Esper learned that the department had not gotten authorization, although SEAL Team Six was later given permission to land. The incident risked the death of the hostage, Philip Walton, or the deaths of several Navy SEALs.
  
  In February 2019, Patel joined the National Security Council, purportedly on Sean Hannity 's recommendation. According to colleagues who spoke to The New York Times, Patel "took few notes in meetings" and was inexperienced for the position. He was considered a "must-hire, directed by the president" for the council. Trump's national security advisor John Bolton and his deputy Charles Kupperman named Patel to the International Organizations and Alliances, a directorate that advances the positions of the United States at the United Nations.
  
  In April 2019, amid an effort by Rudy Giuliani to discredit evidence against Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, Patel shifted his work to Ukraine. According to the Times, Trump personally discussed documents involving Ukraine with Patel, although their communications were separate from those by Giuliani and the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland. Telephone records detailed in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's December report on the impeachment inquiry revealed a 25-minute call between Giuliani and Patel in May. In an interview with CBS News, Patel said that the call was personal.
  
  In July 2019, Patel was appointed as senior director of the counterterrorism directorate of the National Security Council (NSC). Congressional testimony by Fiona Hill, a senior director for Europe and Ukraine at the NSC, purportedly revealed that Patel had directly given Trump negative information about Ukraine. Hill warned her staff to be "very careful" about communicating with him. Further testimony by Alexander Vindman, the director of European affairs, corroborated Hill's statements. After Patel misrepresented himself as an expert on Ukraine, Trump's advisors instructed Vindman not to debrief Trump following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 's inauguration, believing that such a debriefing would confuse Trump. Patel told Axios ' s Jonathan Swan that he had not discussed Ukraine with Trump.
  
  In February 2020, Politico reported that Patel had become a senior advisor to Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence. After Andrew P. Hallman 's resignation, Patel became the principal deputy director of national intelligence. He was given a mandate to "clean house" and promptly reduced the staffing of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Patel was involved in reviewing the office's staff. He returned as senior director of the NSC counterterrorism directorate after John Ratcliffe was confirmed as director of National Intelligence in May.
  
  In August 2020, Patel and Roger D. Carstens, the special envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to Damascus to meet with Ali Mamlouk, the director of Syria 's National Security Bureau, and in October, Bloomberg News reported that he had met with an unnamed Syrian official to discuss releasing Austin Tice, an American journalist who was captured in 2012, and Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American therapist who disappeared in 2017; in May 2024, U.S. national security officials told Kamalmaz's family that they had obtained intelligence indicating he had died in captivity. Patel was involved in the 2020 Nigeria hostage rescue, falsely informing the Department of Defense that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had gotten approval to enter Nigeria 's airspace. The plane was close to landing when Secretary of Defense Mark Esper learned that the department had not gotten authorization, although SEAL Team Six was later given permission to land. The incident risked the death of the hostage, Philip Walton, or the deaths of several Navy SEALs.