nytimes.com - Kash patel FBI mi5

F.B.I. Director Is Said to Have Made a Pledge to Head of MI5, Then Broken It

The episode has contributed to concerns among intelligence allies that Kash Patel, brash and partisan, is also unpredictable and even unreliable.

...Though the F.B.I. is a criminal investigation agency, it is also a major part of the Western intelligence-gathering community. Alongside other U.S. agencies like the C.I.A., the F.B.I. has offices in embassies around the globe.

Mr. Patel’s inexperience, his dismissals of top F.B.I. officials and his shift of bureau resources from thwarting spies and terrorism have heightened concerns among the other Five Eyes nations that the bureau is adrift, according to the former U.S. officials and other people familiar with allies’ reactions to the bureau changes.

Five Eyes officials have watched with alarm as Mr. Patel has fired agents who investigated President Trump and invoked his powers to investigate the president’s perceived enemies. The officials and others spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The shift under Mr. Patel has struck directly at the Five Eyes relationship through the removal of senior agents who spent years fighting Islamic extremists or blunting counterintelligence threats alongside operatives from allied countries...

...Before leaving Britain, Mr. Patel and his girlfriend joined the other security and intelligence officials for a dinner at Windsor Palace with King Charles III, according to two of the former officials. At the end of the night, the group gathered for a photograph. Mr. Patel stood next to the king.