Apprehensive of being fired, or some form of retaliation against their jobs, dozens of Federal bureau of investigation (FBI) agents working on investigations tied to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol riot were moving to comply with a justice department directive this week to begin naming employees whose work involved allegations of wrongdoing in violence.
Directive issued by justice department
In a legal memo, the Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the FBI to turn over a list of all current and former employees who had worked on investigations about January 6. It included thousands of employees across the country. The FBI created records for more than 5,000 employees listed by numerical code instead of their names, with employee identification numbers, titles, and descriptions of their roles in the investigations. There are more than 13,000 agents and 38,000 total FBI employees. This list has been forwarded to the Justice Department well ahead of the deadline.
Apprehension and lawsuits from retaliation
There is some degree of apprehension amongst the Bureau agents seemingly believing this list is to become a basis for reprisal and perhaps for dismissals, too.
Two groups of unnamed FBI agents reacted to it and filed lawsuits against the Justice Department citing this demand as a breach of constitutional and privacy rights. These lawsuits claim this list is a form of retaliation aimed at intimidating the FBI agents into silence and not reporting in the future against President Trump and his associates. The agents ask for an injunction issue in federal court to enjoin the Justice Department from publishing or releasing their identities they were able to identify.
They felt that the publication would, at best, amount to threat, harassment, or worse to them. It underlined deep fears the agents have held in regard to the personal and professional retaliation awaiting the agents with Trump’s previous habit of naming individual law enforcement officers involved in the investigations involving him.
Internal turmoil and changing leadership
The mandate has set off internal conflicts in the Justice Department within the FBI. In an email to all bureau staff, Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll cited that the request encompasses thousands of employees who have worked on the January 6 investigation, including himself and Acting Deputy Director Kissane. This acknowledgment underlines the broad nature of the request and how it might affect the workforce in the bureau.
This has been further exacerbated by recent moves from the Justice Department to remove eight top-ranking FBI officials overseeing sensitive divisions such as cyber, national security, and criminal investigations. Those moves were viewed as part of a broader effort to purge career law enforcement officials deemed insufficiently loyal to the administration.
Broader implications
The actions by the Justice Department have given rise to a broader debate about the independence of federal law enforcement agencies and the politicization of their operations. Federal law enforcement officer advocacy groups have called on congressional leaders to intervene and block the administration from purging career FBI officials. They said such moves undermine the integrity of federal law enforcement and may have long-lasting, harmful impacts on the nation’s justice system.
