FBI Fires Official Over Patel Jet Story

Palmer’s position included supervising the FBI’s aviation units, but Patel’s flight schedule was readily traceable through online tracking services and he reposted photos of himself with Wilkins at the event on his personal X account.

FBI directors are required to use government aircraft for personal or business travel in order to maintain secure communications. But public attention of Patel’s weekend outing—fueled by an X post from a former FBI agent turned outspoken Patel critic—comes after Patel had criticized predecessors for personal travel on taxpayer-funded jets.

Palmer stepped into the role of acting leader of the critical incident response group in August when the prior chief was fired. That predecessor, Brian Driscoll, is now suing the administration with other ousted FBI officials who say they were targeted for lacking loyalty to the president.

Palmer joined the FBI as a special agent in 1998, before rising up to supervisor, assistant special agent in charge in Portland, Oregon, and then senior roles within CIRG at the FBI campus in Quantico, Virginia.

The head of the critical incident response team has oversight of thousands of agents and analysts specialized in handling dangerous threats, such as hostage rescues, and coordinating safety at major events like the Super Bowl and Olympics.

Kowalski arrives with some past experience working as a special assistant to the CIRG director. One point of concern, several of the sources said, is whether the next director will withstand pressure from FBI leadership to utilize its operations—including planes—for more mundane assignments that could be performed by local SWAT teams.