Meanwhile, the FBI is forming a multi-agency security team to safeguard Bongino 24 hours a day, including within agency headquarters.
Last week, a message sent to FBI agents — known as a canvass — requested volunteers to temporarily leave their roles and serve on a protective security detail for Bongino, NBC News reported, citing anonymous sources.
The canvass sought agents willing to relocate for 30 days of temporary duty to provide round-the-clock protection for Bongino, according to two former FBI officials familiar with security details. Full-time protection could require as many as 20 agents, they noted.
The request for 30-day “temporary duty assignments” (TDYs) indicates that the security detail will consist of a rotating group of agents volunteering to leave their regular duties.
The creation of this security detail seems to contradict one of FBI Director Kash Patel’s top priorities: reallocating FBI agents from headquarters to the field, where he argues they can more effectively combat crime, NBC said, though the outlet failed to provide further details as to why Bongino actually needs the security detail in the first place.
A single agent was assigned part-time to accompany the previous deputy director, Paul Abbate, to certain events, according to current and former officials. Abbate also carried his own service weapon, they noted, and had a full security detail only during overseas travel.
Two former FBI officials familiar with the matter said that Bongino’s current bodyguards have accompanied him inside secure FBI facilities, including headquarters in Washington. They added that typically, directors walk around headquarters without their security details.
It doesn’t seem likely that Bongino’s security detail would have been OK’ed without the approval of FBI Director Kash Patel and perhaps even Attorney General Pam Bondi. But again, NBC provided no information as to why the deputy director felt the need for a security presence.
The report did say, however, that Bongino could be qualified by the FBI to carry a weapon himself, but that he’s instead chosen the security detail.
