FBI Director Kash Patel fired dozens of FBI agents and employees last week for their role in the investigation into Donald Trump’s secret documents, and targeted an elite counterintelligence unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran, where the United States, along with Israel, launched a strike.The firings came as Patel claimed, without evidence, that the team of FBI agents investigating Trump’s hoarding of top-secret records at his Mar-a-Lago club engaged in improper investigative steps, MS Now reported.Patel’s destruction of the global spy unit, known as CI-12, also came days before Trump launched Operation Epic Fury, a series of air strikes on Iran that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The previous air strike on Iran ordered by Trump during his first presidency was followed by a series of Iranian operations on American soil to attempt to assassinate Trump and some of his aides.CI-12 conducts investigations into illegal media leaks and mishandling of classified documents, and has veteran agents trained in threat and espionage operations with a particular focus on the Middle East, including Iran and its proxies, as well as Cuba and certain terrorist organizations.
It does not investigate threats from China or Russia, which are handled by separate units.The global spy team helped uncover numerous counterintelligence threats from foreign governments, including Monica Witt, a former US Air Force intelligence specialist and sergeant who began spying for Iran. While working for top-secret US intelligence, Witt converted to Islam and began spying to help Iran, prosecutors said.
She was indicted by a grand jury in 2019 but defected to Iran and remains at large.The CI-12 unit being targeted in last week’s shootings was first reported by the New York Sun.On Monday, people inside the FBI were bracing for the possibility that Patel would fire more agents and employees at CI-12.FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told MS NOW that the FBI does not comment on personnel matters but maintains “a robust counterintelligence operation, with personnel across the country, who achieved record results in 2025, including a 35% increase in counterintelligence arrests, six of the 10 most wanted fugitives captured, and several terrorist plots foiled in December alone.”“Our teams remain fully engaged across the country and are prepared to mobilize any security assets needed to assist federal partners – as well as state and local law enforcement,” he added.
