The first demands of its kind, the notes of almost daily personnel of the director of FBI in little known functions and the abject fear among the agents that they could lose their work have distracted and destabilized the workforce of the FBI, half a dozen federal laws and previous federal. Experience compliance officials in the office told NBC News.
The tensions in the federal agency for the application of the most powerful law in the country follow a request from the Trump administration for the names of thousands of agents assigned to work on investigations related to the Capitol disturbances. The guarantees of the administration that will review the behavior of the agents and not necessarily dismiss them have not stifled the fears of mass gunfire.
If the new administration triggers or punishes the agents involved in the investigations of January 6, to which reference is made within the office as simply “1-6”, it could affect the FBI in three dangerous ways, said officials of The current and previous law.
National Security Risk
Many of the agents involved in the investigations of the disturbances in the Capitol on January 6, 2021 work in the FBI anti -terrorism division, which operates joint terrorism work groups in cities around the country with agencies for the application of federal law and local. These agents investigate terrorism threats both from the United States and foreign groups, such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Most joint terrorism working groups in the United States are mainly composed of FBI agents, officials say, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the dynamics in the office. And most terrorism cases are presented by the FBI, according to judicial documents and public presentations.
Therefore, the possible elimination of thousands of those agents, some estimate the number of anti -terrorist agents that could be more than 4,000, raises a great threat to the FBI’s ability to combat terrorist threats, current and previous officials say.
The agents who worked on January 6 were assigned to do so by superiors or by judicial orders in many cases, officials said. Agents and other FBI staff members do not choose their tasks.
Punishing thousands of cases of cases of January 6 could also damage the FBI operations not related to terrorism, current and previous officials say. The smallest FBI field offices agents, for example, were also taken to work in the cases of January 6. Dismissifying these agents could affect the smallest FBI field offices that investigate miscarriage on the part of local law agencies, corporations and public officials.
Risk of public corruption
Repliations against agents who worked on January 6 The investigations could also have a chilling effect on the desire of FBI agents to investigate future cases involving the second Trump administration.
Current and previous officials say they wonder if FBI officials would be willing to investigate, for example, a person in Trump’s personal orbit. A previous example would be Paul Manafort, Trump campaign manager in 2016, who was investigated by FBI agents and convicted of tax and bank fraud.
An investigation into a figure similar to Manafort would undress the agents and potentially cause some to refuse to investigate it, citing the fear of reprisal, the current and previous officials say. Agents could also ask about the consequences of investigating prominent democratic figures, in case they resume the White House.
Democratic leaders have not requested the dismissal of FBI agents involved in the investigations of former Senator Bob Menéndez, Dn.J. or Hunter Biden, for example. But FBI staff is concerned that the recovery pendulum can balance both ways, officials say.
A former FBI official who asked not to be appointed, citing reprisal fears, predicted that the current investigation of the agents of January 6 will have a lasting impact. “The chilling effect has a long tail,” said the former official. “You are putting into account everyone. They say: ‘We are looking at you.’ “
Retention and recruitment risks
It is likely that dismissal agents also damage efforts to retain veteran agents and recruit new, say current and previous officials.
Agents fired for their work on January 6 could not be hired by other federal agencies for the application of the law, officials say. If they managed to be hired by local police departments, it is most likely to be for less salary and lower retirement benefits.
The economic impact on the families of the agents would be immediate, the officials say. Since agents often work long hours and spend extensive time away from home, they are often the only supporters of their families.
What surprises the agents is that many genuinely believed that a new administration would bring a positive change, the current and previous officials say. Many agents expected a new FBI director to bring very necessary changes to the structure and management of the FBI.
They expected more agents to be sent to the field from the headquarters in Washington, officials say. And they expected new technologies, which many officials said NBC News is very necessary.
An unlikely leader
As rumors of mass dismissals have shaken the workforce in a way not seen in decades, an unexpected leader has emerged. Employees have praised the interim director of the FBI, Brian Driscoll Jr., a career agent and head of the FBI field office in Newark, New Jersey, for facing Trump’s appointed and withdraw against orders from which agents are triggered . Current and previous agents said Driscoll resisted efforts with so much force sometimes they feared he could be forced to come out.
On Tuesday, Driscoll launched a video that promoted the recent achievements of the FBI, including the recent arrests of two people in the most wanted FBI fugitives list and the roles of the agents in the investigation of air accidents on Washington, DC and in Philadelphia
“We will never move our eyes away from our mission, protecting the American people and defending the Constitution,” Driscoll said. “Because in the office we are focused on work, the people with whom we do the work, our partners and the people for whom we do the work, the American people.”
The agents accredit Driscoll with the massive dismissals of detention, for now, the current and previous officials say. They also know that the Trump administration could eliminate it at any time.
