In a significant development on Friday, several FBI analysts connected to the controversial 2023 memo identifying Catholic “violent extremists” as a potential threat were dismissed from their positions. This action was part of the ongoing changes under the leadership of the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, according to their attorney.
The individuals affected by this decision include four intelligence analysts and one supervisory analyst. When approached for comments on these dismissals, the FBI chose to remain silent.
The attorney representing the dismissed employees, David Laufman, expressed strong disapproval of the decision. In a statement, he described the terminations as “manifestly unjust” and argued that they defied established FBI norms. Laufman stressed that these analysts had committed themselves to exceptional public service to safeguard the nation, and thus, deserved much better treatment.
The controversy traces back to a January 2023 intelligence report generated by the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia field office. This document quickly became a political touchstone, especially among Congressional Republicans, who used it to fuel claims that the FBI, under the Biden administration, was unfairly targeting conservative groups.
Despite these accusations, then-FBI Director Chris Wray consistently refuted such claims. The FBI announced that the memo was promptly retracted and initiated an internal review. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, serving under President Joe Biden, also voiced his dismay, stating he was “appalled” by the contents of the memo.
Earlier Justice Department investigations into the memo challenged the analytical tradecraft but did not find intentional misconduct by the analysts involved.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under Patel, a Trump loyalist who over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
In February, for instance, the FBI fired a group of counterintelligence agents who participated in the investigation into President Donald Trump over his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Richmond memo, which emerged from a domestic terrorism investigation, sought to examine a potential link between what it called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology and racially and ethnically motivated extremists. It warned of the potential for violence and also highlighted what the authors described as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” FBI leadership quickly condemned those findings once the document became public.
An internal FBI review described in a 2023 letter to Congress and based on interviews with 26 people “found that all individuals involved in the creation, review and approval of the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and failed to recognize that the product, as drafted, equated the subjects’ interest in their self-described form of religion with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) ideology without sufficient evidence or articulable support.”
The failure to adhere to standards, including on proper domestic terrorism terminology, “created the appearance that the FBI conducts investigative activity based on religious affiliation,” the letter said. “One of the FBI’s most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
A Justice Department inspector general report in 2024 summarized the earlier FBI review by saying that though there were departures from proper analytic tradecraft, “no evidence of a malicious intent or an improper purpose” were found.
MS NOW earlier reported the firings.
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Tucker reported from Los Angeles.