Agents say mass firings could dangerously weaken FBI in three ways
Abject fear among agents that they could lose their jobs has distracted and destabilized the FBI workforce, current and former federal law enforcement officials say.
First-of-their-kind lawsuits, near-daily staff memos from the little-known acting FBI director and abject fear among agents that they could lose their jobs have distracted and destabilized the FBI workforce, a half-dozen current and former federal law enforcement officials with experience in the bureau told NBC News.
The tensions at the country's most powerful federal law enforcement agency follow a Trump administration request for the names of thousands of agents assigned to work on Capitol riot-related investigations. Assurances from the administration that it will review agents’ conduct and not necessarily fire them have not quelled fears of mass firings.
If the new administration fires or punishes agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigations — referred to within the bureau as simply “1-6" — it could affect the FBI in three dangerous ways, the current and former law enforcement officials said.
Many of the agents involved in the investigations of the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, work in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, which operates Joint Terrorism Task Forces in cities across the country with federal and local law enforcement agencies. Those agents investigate terrorism threats both from inside the United States and from overseas groups, such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Most of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in the United States are primarily made up of FBI agents, say the officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss dynamics in the bureau. And most of the terrorism cases are brought by the FBI, according to court documents and public filings.
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