Kash Patel

Extracted Attributes

• Religion

  Hindu

• Education

  Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and History from University of Richmond (2002); Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law; Certificate in International Law from University College London

• Ethnicity

  South Asian (Indian-Ugandan descent)

• Full Name

  Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel

• Date of Birth

  1980-02-25

• Place of Birth

  Garden City, New York, United States

• Current Position

  Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Timeline

• Kash Patel is born in Garden City, New York. (Source: Britannica)

  1980-02-25

• Graduates from the University of Richmond with a degree in criminal justice and history. (Source: FBI.gov)

  2002-05-31

• Begins career as a public defender in Miami-Dade County, Florida. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2005-01-01

• Joins the Department of Justice as a national security prosecutor. (Source: FBI.gov)

  2012-01-01

• Becomes senior aide to Devin Nunes on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2017-01-01

• Joins the National Security Council's International Organizations and Alliances directorate. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2019-02-01

• Appointed as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020-02-01

• Named Chief of Staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020-11-10

• Named to the board of Trump Media & Technology Group. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-04-01

• Publishes his memoir, 'Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy'. (Source: Britannica)

  2023-01-01

• Becomes the ninth Director of the FBI after a 51-49 Senate confirmation vote. (Source: FBI.gov)

  2025-02-20

• Serves as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives until April 2025. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-02-01

• Patel's personal account is hacked by a pro-Iranian group. (Source: Britannica)

  2026-03-27

• Files a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic magazine. (Source: PBS News)

  2026-03-30

Kash Patel

Kash Patel (born Kashyap Pramod Patel, February 25, 1980) is an American lawyer serving since 2025 as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Patel also served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from February to April 2025. Patel studied criminal justice and history at the University of Richmond and graduated from the Pace University School of Law. In 2005, he began working as a public defender in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and later as a federal public defender for the Southern District of Florida. Patel worked as a staff member at the Department of Justice from 2012 to 2017; he then left the department and became a senior aide to Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Patel was the primary author of the Nunes memo, alleging that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials abused their authority in the FBI investigation into links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials. In February 2019, Patel joined the National Security Council's International Organizations and Alliances directorate. In 2020, he became the principal deputy director of national intelligence until May, when he returned to the National Security Council. In November, after President Donald Trump dismissed Mark Esper as secretary of defense, Patel was named as the chief of staff to acting secretary of defense Christopher C. Miller. After Trump left office in January 2021, Patel leveraged his association with Trump to promote several business ventures and made recurring appearances on several podcasts. In April 2022, he was named to the board of Trump Media & Technology Group. Also that year, he was appointed to represent Trump before the National Archives and Records Administration; the FBI questioned Patel about his involvement in Trump's records. He has promoted conspiracy theories about the deep state, the 2020 presidential election, and the January 6 Capitol attack. Democrats have accused Patel of QAnon affiliation. Patel has been widely described as a Trump loyalist. He shares Trump's view that the FBI has been weaponized against conservatives. He has called for "major, major reform", citing the bureau's misuse of its surveillance authority under the FISA and James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. On December 11, 2024, Christopher Wray announced that he would resign at the end of Joe Biden's presidency on January 20, 2025. Patel appeared before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in January 2025. He was confirmed by the Senate in February. Shortly thereafter, he was named as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, but by April he was replaced. Patel is the first person of South Asian descent to serve as FBI director. His tenure at the FBI has elicited several controversies related to his professional conduct and use of federal resources for personal leisure.

Web Search Results

• Kash Patel | Confirmation, Vote, Senate Hearing, Wife, & Facts | Britannica

  ## News • Lawyers for Rep. Swalwell demand that FBI director halt any plan to release old investigative file • Mar. 30, 2026, 9:09 PM ET (AP) Pro-Iranian group claims credit for hack of FBI Director Kash Patel's personal account • Mar. 27, 2026, 5:25 PM ET (AP) Kash Patel (born February 25, 1980, Garden City, New York, U.S.) is an American lawyer and government official who serves as director of the FBI (2025– ) in the Republican administration of Pres. Donald Trump. Patel held several posts during Trump’s first term (2017–21). He is especially known for claiming the existence of a “deep state” in the U.S. government. ## Education and early career Did You Know? Patel was raised in the Hindu faith. [...] •History Top Questions ### Who is Kash Patel? Kash Patel is an American lawyer and government official who serves as director of the FBI (2025– ) in Pres. Donald Trump’s second administration. Patel held several posts during Trump’s first term and is known for claiming the existence of a “deep state” in the U.S. government. ### What is Kash Patel’s religion? Kash Patel was raised in the Hindu faith. ### What books has Kash Patel written? Kash Patel has written several books, including a children’s trilogy, in which he is a wizard who helps the heroic King Donald vanquish his enemies. Patel also penned Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy (2023). ## News • [...] Select Citation Style Share Share to social media Facebook X URL Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. External Websites FBI director FBI director Kash Patel speaking at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in 2022, three years before he became director of the FBI. # Kash Patel American lawyer and government official Also known as: Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated •History Top Questions ### Who is Kash Patel?

• Kash Patel - Wikipedia

  Kashyap Pramod Patel was born on February 25, 1980, in Garden City, New York, on Long Island. He is the son of Pramod Rameshchandra Patel, a Gujarati Indian-Ugandan who was among those who faced ethnic persecution and were expelled by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972. The Patels were originally from the village of Bhadran in the Anand district of Gujarat, India. Chh Gam Patidar Mandal, an organization in Bhadran, has maintained a vanshavali, or family tree of the Patel family for 18 generations. They briefly returned to India while seeking asylum in the United States, the UK, and Canada. They moved to Canada once their applications were accepted. Subsequently, they moved to the US and Pramod started working as a chief financial officer for a global distributor of aircraft bearings. [...] month. Patel was a political consultant for Save America and Friends, which is led by Matt Gaetz. [...] officer for a global distributor of aircraft bearings. Patel's household included Pramod's eight brothers and sisters. He was raised Hindu.

• Who is Kash Patel, Trump's new FBI director?

  # Who is Kash Patel? Trump's new FBI director vows to shake up the agency Kash Patel, a one-time aide to President Donald Trump, has been confirmed by the US Senate to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Patel, a former defence department chief of staff and ex-federal prosecutor, is a staunch Trump supporter and a fellow critic of the US government's top law enforcement agency. He was confirmed in a party line vote of 51-49, with only two Republicans joining all Democrats against him, citing concerns over his qualifications to lead the agency and claiming that he will pursue retribution against critics of Trump. Patel has previously suggested dramatically limiting the authority of the FBI, which Republicans allege has unfairly targeted conservatives in recent years. [...] Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is now Patel's boss, told lawmakers during her confirmation hearing earlier this month that there would be no enemies list at the Department of Justice under her leadership. Patel, the son of Indian immigrants, is a former defence lawyer and federal prosecutor. He caught the attention of Trump - who was then serving his first term as president - after becoming a senior counsel to the House of Representatives intelligence committee in 2017. He quickly rose within Trump's circle after he was hired as a national security aide in 2019, and in 2020 was appointed chief of staff to the head of the Pentagon. As well as his 2023 memoir, Patel has published two pro-Trump children's books. [...] He is on the board of Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. He has also reportedly had a consulting contract with the company. After announcing Patel as his FBI pick, Trump posted on social media calling him "an advocate for truth, accountability, and the constitution". "Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice, and protecting the American people," Trump said. Banner that reads "Trump's Second Term" in red and blue with image of Trump at the end ## FBI Director Kash Patel files $250m lawsuit against The Atlantic magazine ## Michigan synagogue attack was Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism, FBI says

• Director Kash Patel - FBI

  ##### Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. ##### Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock () or means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Federal Bureau of Investigation Logo # Director Kash Patel About # Director Kash Patel Portrait of FBI Director Kash Patel Kash Patel became the ninth Director of the FBI on February 20, 2025. A native of New York, Mr. Patel graduated from the University of Richmond in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and history. He later returned to New York to earn his juris doctor and earned a certificate in international law from University College London Faculty of Laws in the United Kingdom. [...] Mr. Patel began his career in 2005 as a public defender in Florida, trying scores of jury trials in federal and state courts, ranging from murder to narco-trafficking and complex financial crimes. In 2014, Mr. Patel began his tenure with the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a national security prosecutor under the Obama Administration, where he led investigations spanning multiple theaters of conflict and oversaw the successful prosecution of al-Qaida, ISIS, and other terrorist actors. He also served as the DOJ liaison officer to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), working with our nation’s tier one special forces units to conduct collaborative global targeting operations in almost every theater of war worldwide. [...] During the first Trump Administration, Mr. Patel led President Trump’s counterterrorism mission as deputy assistant to the president on the National Security Council (NSC). In this capacity, he oversaw the execution of several of President Trump’s top priorities, including eliminating al-Qaida and ISIS senior leadership and safely repatriating dozens of American hostages. As the top counterterrorism official at the White House, he was responsible for overseeing the interagency implementation of the national counterterrorism strategy. Mr. Patel also served as deputy director of National Intelligence, where he oversaw all 17 IC agencies. He led the director’s mission to synthesize our most critical intelligence holdings, which he briefed during the president's daily briefing.

• FBI Director Kash Patel sues The Atlantic for article that alleged excessive drinking | PBS News

  FBI Director Kash Patel hit The Atlantic magazine with a $250 million defamation lawsuit on Monday, claiming an article that talked about mismanagement at the agency and his alleged excessive drinking was false and a "malicious hit piece." The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the "meritless lawsuit." In the article, posted on the magazine's website Friday, author Sarah Fitzpatrick said Patel is deeply concerned about losing his job and that "he has good reasons to think so — including some having to do with what witnesses described to me as bouts of excessive drinking." Fitzpatrick was also named as a defendant. ## Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. [...] Politics Arts Nation World Economy Science Health Education Education ## Share your email and we’ll share the latest news Exclusive coverage from Lisa Desjardins and the politics team Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. #### Get news alerts from PBS News ##### Turn on desktop notifications? FBI Director Patel testifies before House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. David Bauder, Associated Press David Bauder, Associated Press Leave your feedback # FBI Director Kash Patel sues The Atlantic for article that alleged excessive drinking [...] Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. His behavior, including "both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences," has alarmed officials at the FBI and Department of Justice, leading one official speaking anonymously to say that worry about what would happen in the case of a terrorist attack in the U.S. "keeps me up at night," the magazine said. ## Patel still described as pivotal for Trump White House The White House told The Atlantic that Patel remains a critical player on the President Donald Trump's law and order team and credited him for decreases in the crime rate. Trump team is also said to be pleased by Patel's willingness to go after the president's rivals.

• Image

  

• Gender

  male

• Educated At

  University College London

• Instance Of

  Q5

• Occupation

  writer

• Citizenship

  United States

• Date Of Birth

  2/25/1980

• Place Of Birth

  Garden City