Top F.B.I. Agent in New York Vows to ‘Dig In’ After Removals at Agency

The New York Times ^ | Feb. 2, 2025, 1:30 p.m. ET | Adam Goldman, William K. Rashbaum, Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York City field office vowed in a defiant email to his staff to “dig in” after the Trump administration targeted officials involved in the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack — and praised the bureau’s interim leaders for defending its independence.

“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,” wrote James E. Dennehy, a veteran and highly-respected agent who has run the largest and most important field office in the bureau since last September.

An F.B.I. spokeswoman declined to comment on internal bureau communications.

The email came after the Justice Department ordered the F.B.I. on Friday to collect the names of bureau personnel who helped investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, raising the possibility that Mr. Trump’s political appointees plan to purge career bureau officials, including rank-and-file field agents. That number could reach 6,000 — or about a sixth of the bureau’s 38,000 employees, according to the F.B.I.

At least nine high-ranking officials have been forced out since Trump’s inauguration, plunging the bureau into confusion. Mr. Dennehy wrote that those removals had spread “fear and angst within the F.B.I. ranks.”

Mr. Dennehy urged his employees to remain calm, and not make any rushed decisions about their careers, and he committed to providing assistance to them no matter what happened.

“Time for me to dig in,” he wrote.

In an extraordinary gesture, Mr. Dennehy, a former Marine, praised the two top acting officials at the F.B.I. — Brian Driscoll and Robert C. Kissane — for “fighting” for the bureau’s employees. Both resisted efforts to immediately oust career employees, and...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The email came after the Justice Department ordered the F.B.I. on Friday to collect the names of bureau personnel who helped investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, raising the possibility that Mr. Trump’s political appointees plan to purge career bureau officials, including rank-and-file field agents.

What goes around, comes around.

[madison10]

What is buried can be dug up. ~~not Kamala

[Army Air Corps]

“Forget” to pay him for a few months and see how that works for him.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s fired this week.

[lgjhn23]

6000? That’s only a good start.....needs to be the whole bunch.

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

So this guy can “dig in”? So he can probably dig out, too. The FBI office in Juneau, Alaska, may sometimes need to dig out. Maybe his special talents could be put to use there. At least until his office in Nome is ready.

[Da Coyote]

Problems with “dug in” Fed Bureau of Lies” personnel?
JDAM supply can end your problems.
Call us at 1-800-efthem.

[Williams]

Fire this idiot immediately.

[ncalburt]

Bye Lefty Jimmy .
Enjoy your new career flipping burgers somewhere .

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

[BipolarBob]

“Forget” to pay him for a few months and see how that works for him.

He'd file for backpay. Lock out his credentials, take away his computer and escort him out to never return.

[wardamneagle]

Dig in and find another job.

[17th Miss Regt]

At least until his office in Nome is ready.

Nome, for now. It will be good acclimatization for when we purchase Greenland. We'll need an office there!

[Kazan]

Everyone involved in orchestrating J6 must be cleansed from the FBI.

[bill andersen]

“Time for me to dig in,” he wrote.

He will soon be “digging in” to the new fbi office in Shemya, Aleutian Islands, Alaska.

That is if he’s not fired first, which I hope he will be.

[ncalburt]

Send Lefty jimmy to Bethel Alaska office.
Nome has bars and restaurants and oddly interesting .
Bethel is true Alaska hell .

[Third Person]

probably knows he’s a goner, shooting off like that

hero and martyr, of course

[DesertRhino]

“wrote James E. Dennehy, a veteran and highly-respected agent who has run the largest and most important field office in the bureau since last September.”

Most important? A little full of ourselves today?
Fire his ass immediately. Since when is an FBI hack in that minor bureau of the DOJ, an executive branch, allowed to openly oppose the President?

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

We fixed the glitch.

[Nebr FAL owner]

You expect something different from America’s einsatzkommando?🤕🤥