The FBI has issued a call for agents to voluntarily serve as bodyguards for Deputy Director Dan Bongino, a break from past practice in which the bureau’s No. 2 officials did not have security details, two current and two former FBI officials familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York police officer who became a wealthy pro-Trump podcaster, harshly criticized the bureau for years before President Donald Trump chose him to be deputy director.
Bongino, the first deputy director in FBI history who is not a career agent, has pledged to act in a nonpartisan manner.
Last week, a message sent to FBI agents — known as a canvass — asked for volunteers to leave their jobs temporarily to serve on a protective security detail for Bongino. The canvass sought agents willing to relocate for 30 days of temporary duty to protect Bongino 24 hours a day, according to two former FBI officials familiar with security details. Full-time protection could require as many as 20 agents, they said.
The request for 30-day “temporary duty assignments,” or TDYs, means the detail will consist of a rotating group of agents who volunteer to leave their normal duties. Creating the security detail appears to run counter to one of FBI Director Kash Patel’s top priorities:
transferring FBI agents from headquarters to the field, where, he argues, they can better fight crime.
The FBI declined to comment.