President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, has called on leaders to weaken powerful career bureaucrats in Washington for years, referring to them as part of the “deep state” and politically motivated federal investigators, in particular, as “gangsters.”

If confirmed, he could be the one spearheading those reforms.

Nicole Parker, a former FBI special agent who spent more than 12 years with the bureau, has a few ideas on where to start.

“There was a palpable disconnect between the line agents and leadership in Washington, D.C.,” she told Fox News Digital. “These observations inform my belief that the FBI is currently suffering from a distinct lack of leadership and that the future of the FBI will be directly tied to how the next director solves the agency’s problems.”

Kash Patel speaks at a campaign event for Republican candidates on July 31, 2022, in Tucson, Ariz. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, announcing the nomination on Nov. 30. He noted that Patel had tried more than 60 cases as an attorney and highlighted other parts of his resume.

Patel was a federal prosecutor who handled foreign terror cases with the Department of Justice and began his career as a public defense lawyer. And he served in a number of Defense Department and White House roles during the first Trump administration, including as senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council and as chief of staff to former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.

“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border,” Trump continued. “Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”

President Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, left, meets with Texas Sen. John Cornyn in his office in the Hart Senate Office Building on Dec. 9, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, wrote on X that Patel’s background placed him in key national security positions in all three branches of government. He’d also been a congressional watchdog.

Sen. Dick Durbin, however, an influential Illinois Democrat and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Patel “the wrong choice.”

“Kash Patel has neither the experience, the temperament, nor the judgment to lead the FBI,” Durbin claimed. 

Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

“The FBI is not damaged beyond repair,” Parker told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.