section_path: Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2025–present)/Tenure
section_name: Tenure
paragraph_text: Tenure
  
  After being sworn in, Patel told officials that he intended to send 1,000 agents from Washington, D.C. to other field offices in cities with higher crime rates and reassign 500 staff members to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. According to The Wall Street Journal, an official told Patel that the restructuring could cost $100 million that the agency did not have; he was undeterred. Patel removed civil service executives and replaced them with political allies, according to the Journal. The New York Times obtained an internal email from Patel in March, directing the majority of the bureau's field offices—with the exception of those in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles —to report to branch directors rather than the deputy director. In a February call with FBI officials, Patel proposed altering the bureau's physical fitness test and partnering with Ultimate Fighting Championship, while saying he would shift his operations to Nevada, where he lives, and the West Coast. He expressed interest in joining the bureau's hockey team; In March, Trump said in a speech that Patel had plans to move the FBI headquarters to an "old Department of Commerce building", suggesting further reductions in staff.
  
  In February, NBC News reported that Patel would be named the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; he was sworn in on February 24. According to The Washington Post, by March 2025, Patel was not at the bureau. On April 9, Reuters reported that he had been replaced by Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the army. That month, Patel announced that Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin circuit court judge, had been arrested for allegedly having "misdirected federal agents away from" an undocument immigrant. He provided a photograph of Dugan's arrest that potentially violated an internal policy against disclosing photographs of defendants unless necessary or public record; former attorney general Eric Holder, who implemented the policy, told CNN that the post was in violation.
  
  After being sworn in, Patel told officials that he intended to send 1,000 agents from Washington, D.C. to other field offices in cities with higher crime rates and reassign 500 staff members to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. According to The Wall Street Journal, an official told Patel that the restructuring could cost $100 million that the agency did not have; he was undeterred. Patel removed civil service executives and replaced them with political allies, according to the Journal. The New York Times obtained an internal email from Patel in March, directing the majority of the bureau's field offices—with the exception of those in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles —to report to branch directors rather than the deputy director. In a February call with FBI officials, Patel proposed altering the bureau's physical fitness test and partnering with Ultimate Fighting Championship, while saying he would shift his operations to Nevada, where he lives, and the West Coast. He expressed interest in joining the bureau's hockey team; In March, Trump said in a speech that Patel had plans to move the FBI headquarters to an "old Department of Commerce building", suggesting further reductions in staff.
  
  In February, NBC News reported that Patel would be named the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; he was sworn in on February 24. According to The Washington Post, by March 2025, Patel was not at the bureau. On April 9, Reuters reported that he had been replaced by Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the army. That month, Patel announced that Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin circuit court judge, had been arrested for allegedly having "misdirected federal agents away from" an undocument immigrant. He provided a photograph of Dugan's arrest that potentially violated an internal policy against disclosing photographs of defendants unless necessary or public record; former attorney general Eric Holder, who implemented the policy, told CNN that the post was in violation.