Knewz.com is reporting that FBI Director Kash Patel firmly denied a CNN report that claimed he plans to cut personnel at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The report stated that he intended to transfer up to 1,000 ATF agents to the FBI and reduce the ATF workforce by over one-third. Patel sent a memo to ATF employees, asserting that CNN’s information was inaccurate and that operational command rests with FBI leadership, not the media.
The ATF employs approximately 2,600 agents, a number Patel states remains stable. Patel, also the acting director of the ATF, emphasized the commitment of ATF personnel to public safety and assured that their security would not be compromised by misleading narratives.
Patel labeled the report as “fake news,” saying FBI leadership’s decisions are firm despite external pressures. After his confirmation, Patel expressed a desire to reform the FBI to align with the priorities of former President Donald Trump, focusing on perceived politicization within the agency.
Patel stated, “This weekend, CNN reported news of a plan on the part of our leadership to ‘cut as many as one third’ of ATF agents and reallocate 1,000 agents over to the FBI.” He added, “The fake news will NEVER be responsible for operational command authority over the ATF, we are.”
Patel said, “You have written everything you possibly can about me that’s fake, malicious, slanderous and defamatory. Keep it coming. Bring it on, but leave the men and women of the FBI out of it. They deserve better.”