President Donald Trump has announced the appointment of Kash Patel as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director and Chad Chronister as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Patel served on the National Security Council during the last administration, playing a key role in negotiations with Syria over American hostages in 2020. He is known as a critic of the ‘deep state’ intelligence apparatus, which investigated President Trump for alleged connections to Russia during his first administration.
Though Chronister appears to be a fairly conventional, tough-on-drugs Republican DEA Administrator, the choice of Patel as FBI Director has been more controversial among Senate Republicans, who tend to be more aligned with established interests within the U.S. national security apparatus.
It remains to be seen whether Patel will be confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 majority. Should four Republicans side with the Democrats, it is likely that Patel will not be confirmed. It is likely there will be a similarly tough confirmation battle over former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), President Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, who holds similarly critical views of the intelligence community. Already, President Trump’s initial law enforcement pick, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), another critic of the intelligence community and the military-industrial complex, withdrew from consideration after it became apparent that the Senate would reject his nomination.
