Congress must demand competence, not performative crackdowns
The hours after Charlie Kirk’s assassination exposed a leadership vacuum at the FBI. Director Kash Patel’s social post that the shooter was in custody proved wrong, news conferences slipped, and credit claiming followed only after an arrest. In a moment when clarity saves lives and steadiness reassures a rattled country, the bureau broadcast confusion. For an agency already distrusted, these stumbles are not just optics, they are operational risk. Limited government depends on credible institutions with narrow, disciplined missions. What the public saw instead was improvisation shaped by politics, not precision shaped by tradecraft.
A credibility gap at the worst possible moment
The misstatement about a suspect being in custody, the canceled briefing, the reported internal tirades over delayed briefings to the Director, then a national podium moment to assert control after the arrest, all suggest an organization chasing the narrative rather than the facts. That is a dangerous posture in a volatile climate where political violence threatens civic order. Strong national security requires quiet competence, tight chains of command, and a pause on social media chest beating until evidence is verified. When the top of the FBI sounds uncertain, the country gets less safe.
Purges, lawsuits, and the appearance of retaliation
The parallel storyline is even more corrosive. A lawsuit from three ousted senior executives alleges a purge driven by political demands, including pressure to fire personnel targeted on social media and reprisals tied to Jan. 6 investigations. Leadership churn across field offices, polygraph hunts for leakers, and the unusual addition of a co deputy director alongside Dan Bongino point to an institution in perpetual shakeup. Conservatives should not confuse hard charging style with accountable governance. Limited government means predictable rules, lawful process, and insulation from factional score settling, no matter who holds the White House.
Mission creep is not a strategy
Patel has elevated street crime and illegal immigration as FBI priorities, with federal agents tallying arrests for offenses like drunken driving while a Washington corruption squad was disbanded. The border crisis is real and local policing needs help, but the FBI’s unique value is not traffic stops and routine arrests. It is counterintelligence, public corruption, complex conspiracies, and cyber intrusions. Every agent shifted to municipal work is one less on Chinese espionage, Russian influence, cartel finance, and elite corruption. Strong national security starts with a sharp mission and an apolitical target set.
What Congress should demand this week
Lawmakers should require a public corrective action plan for the Kirk investigation, a ban on premature social pronouncements, and a precise timeline of decision making. They should erect a firewall between the FBI and political directives from any administration, restore core corruption and counterintelligence capacities, and publish a written mission prioritization that stops ad hoc realignment. Oversight must scrutinize leak hunts that lean on polygraphs, ensure transparency on sensitive case files, and appoint an independent reviewer to assess command failures revealed last week. Conservatives want an FBI that is smaller, sharper, and feared by foreign adversaries and violent criminals, not by American citizens.
