One year into the Trump administration’s overhaul of the FBI, thousands of employees have departed and several high-profile agents have been fired, but critics and oversight groups say the agency’s transformation may be incomplete.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
One year after President Donald Trump called for sweeping reforms at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency has experienced its highest level of employee departures in at least a decade, even as questions persist about whether all officials involved in politically charged investigations have been removed.
Since Jan. 20, 2025, a total of 3,063 FBI employees have left the bureau, according to data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Of those departures, at most 138 were firings, while the majority were retirements, totaling 1,872, or voluntary resignations, at 980. The figures were cited in a Daily Caller News Foundation report examining whether FBI Director Kash Patel is delivering on Trump’s pledge to dismantle what he has described as a weaponized federal law enforcement apparatus.
The overall number of departures in 2025 exceeded those recorded during the first calendar years of both Trump’s first administration and the Biden administration, when 1,924 and 1,994 employees left the bureau, respectively. Between 2017 and 2020, a total of 9,535 FBI employees separated from the agency, with departures increasing each year during that period.
Trump publicly urged Patel on Jan. 12 to fire agents he accused of misconduct, referencing Timothy Thibault, the FBI official linked to the Arctic Frost investigation that later became special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election probe. Thibault was accused of circulating left-leaning media articles internally while advocating for the investigation to include Trump.
“These FBI Agents are total Scum, in their own way no better than the insurrectionists in Portland, Minnesota, Los Angeles, etc. Kash better get them out, NOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Radical Left Lunatics put in by the ‘Auto Pen’ [Biden] and Obama!”
Patel responded publicly, saying the agents referenced by the president had already been removed. “Thank you Mr. President,” Patel posted. “Under your leadership, this FBI found the corrupt actors and terminated their employment last year. America voted for the end of weaponized law enforcement, and that’s what we are delivering.”
Thibault had left the FBI in 2022 following allegations that he downplayed negative information related to Hunter Biden and shared partisan social media content.
The bureau confirmed it “dismantled” the CR-15 squad where the Arctic Frost investigation originated, though it did not specify how many agents were fired. NBC News reported in October that at least three agents faced personnel action, with two fired. Blaire Toleman, who led CR-15 during its investigation of Trump, was fired in November, according to The New York Times.
“We fired those who acted unethically, dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad, and launched an investigation,” Patel wrote on X in October. “Transparency and accountability aren’t slogans, they’re promises kept.”
Patel also forced out Aaron Tapp, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office, whose name appeared in Arctic Frost records released by Senate Republicans, according to MS Now.
Former CR-15 agent Walter Giardina, who was fired in August, told the New York Times that line agents were following orders. “It was not my idea to open Arctic Frost,” he said. “We were detailed to Jack Smith. The supervisors came to us and said, You’re going to do this.”
Records show that Wayne Jacobs, an early figure in the investigation, remains in charge of the Philadelphia field office. Emails show Jacobs praised the Arctic Frost opening, later recusing himself due to a potential conflict, according to internal correspondence released by Senate investigators.
Despite the departures, oversight groups say deeper reforms are needed. Oversight Project President Mike Howell said officials his group identified as responsible for politically motivated actions were promoted rather than disciplined. “They and others responsible for the partisan civil liberties abuses should be held accountable, not rewarded,” Howell told the DCNF, adding that meaningful reform would require “massive personnel changes” and the elimination of non-essential missions.
Trump pledged during his campaign to overhaul federal intelligence agencies, saying in a 2023 video that weaponized departments would be “completely overhauled.”
Some fired agents have challenged their dismissals in court. Twelve agents terminated in July for kneeling during 2020 protests over George Floyd’s death filed suit, arguing their actions were professional and nonviolent. Their attorney, Mary Dohrmann, said in a statement that the agents were being targeted for “purely partisan reasons.”
Three additional former senior officials — Brian Driscoll, Steven Jensen and Spencer Evans — sued in September, claiming retaliation for refusing to politicize the bureau. Driscoll alleged Patel told him firings were necessary to protect his own position, according to the lawsuit.
Patel has rejected those claims, telling CNN in August that every individual found to have weaponized the bureau “has been removed from leadership positions” and that further action would follow if additional misconduct is identified.
As investigations, lawsuits and congressional oversight continue, the scope and permanence of the FBI’s transformation under Patel remain an open question for both supporters and critics of the administration’s reform effort.
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