Brian Driscoll
Brian Driscoll | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Paul Abbate (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Education | Villanova University (BA) Pepperdine University (MPP) |
Brian Driscoll is the current acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since January 20, 2025. He has been an FBI agent since 2007. Driscoll is a recipient of the FBI Medal of Valor and the FBI Shield of Bravery.
Background
[edit]Driscoll has a bachelor's degree in English from Villanova University and a master's degree in public policy and international relations from Pepperdine University. Prior to his career with the FBI, he was a special agent at NCIS.[1][2]
Career
[edit]In 2007, Driscoll joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a special agent. He was first assigned to the New York field office, where he worked in organized crime and later became a member of the regional SWAT team.[1] In 2011, he was selected for the Hostage Rescue Team, the elite special operations unit of the agency, serving in the Blue Squadron.[3] In this role, Driscoll was part of two notable raids. First, in 2013, his unit was sent to Alabama and successfully saved a five year old boy who had been taken hostage in a bunker.[3] Two years later, he was part of a raid in Syria along with Delta Force, involved in rescue efforts of Kayla Mueller who had been taken hostage by the Islamic State. The operation led to the elimination of a top Islamic State official and the capture of his wife.[3]
Driscoll returned to New York in 2019 to work as a supervisory special agent to establish and lead two joint task forces concerning violent crimes, child exploitation, and human trafficking.[3] In 2020, Driscoll was transferred to the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force to lead the North Africa international terrorism investigations squad. Driscoll was later promoted to serve as the assistant special agent in charge of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force Extraterritorial Terrorism Branch.[1] He was promoted in 2022 to head of the Hostage Rescue Team and tactical section chief of the Critical Incident Response Group.[3]
Acting FBI Director
[edit]Following the 2024 presidential election, the Trump transition team asked Driscoll to serve as Deputy Director of the FBI underneath Robert Kissane as acting director.[4] However, following the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2025, Driscoll became acting director of the FBI because the White House website "incorrectly listed" him as acting director and Kissane as deputy director.[4] "Instead of fixing the error, the pair swapped their temporary FBI roles," according to The Wall Street Journal.[4]
On January 31, 2025, as part of a planned mass termination, widely described as a "purge"[5][6][7] of federal law enforcement officials[8] under the second Trump administration, the FBI under Driscoll was ordered to fire eight senior executives and compile a list of potentially thousands of other employees involved in investigations stemming from the January 6 United States Capitol attack, closely linked to Donald Trump.[9][10][11][12] Driscoll said that the list of such employees included himself and acting deputy director Kissane.[13][14][15] The order came from Emil Bove, a former criminal defense attorney for Trump who became the Trump administration's acting Deputy Attorney General.[13][16] Driscoll refused to endorse the effort to purge agents and pushed back "so forcefully that some FBI officials feared he would be dismissed."[13][17] Driscoll was lauded in a message widely circulated among FBI personnel.[17]
Driscoll is known to sign his name 'Drizz,' and his friends affectionately liken him to the fictional Captain Jack Sparrow, from the “Pirates of the Caribbean.”[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Brian Driscoll Named Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Field Office". Federal Bureau of Investigation. January 14, 2025. Archived from the original on January 21, 2025. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
- ^ "Brian Driscoll: A Profile of a FBI Public Policy Career". publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu. Archived from the original on January 21, 2025. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Goldman, Adam (February 4, 2025). "'Accidental' F.B.I. Chief Builds a Following as Agency's Defender". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 5, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ a b c d "FBI Overhaul Off to a Rocky Start as Kash Patel Prepares to Defend His Vision". The Wall Street Journal. January 29, 2025.
- ^ "Trump Administration Purges at FBI Spark Revolt Among FBI Personnel". www.cato.org. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ Betts, Anna (February 3, 2025). "FBI in 'battle' with Trump amid purge of officials, top agent warns staff". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ "Senior FBI official forcefully resisted Trump administration firings". NBC News. February 1, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Evan Perez, Josh Campbell, Hannah (January 31, 2025). "Trump DOJ demands list of thousands of FBI agents, others who worked on Jan. 6 and Trump investigations for possible firing | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ ""Trump has called all patriots": 210 Jan. 6th criminal defendants say Trump incited them". CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ "Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol - December 00, 2022 - 117th Congress Second Session - House Report 117-000" (PDF). United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. December 22, 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 23, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "Donald Trump calls Jan. 6 a "day of love." Here are the facts". NPR. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ "Trump associates' ties to extremists probed by Jan. 6 panel". PBS News. July 11, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Justice Department orders FBI purge, review of staff who touched Jan. 6 cases". The Washington Post. January 31, 2025.
- ^ "DOJ seeks list of potentially thousands of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases". ABC News. January 31, 2025.
- ^ "Trump DOJ demands list of thousands of FBI agents, others who worked on Jan. 6 and Trump investigations for possible firing". CNN. January 31, 2025.
- ^ "Trump defense lawyers want New York City hush money case dismissed". ABC7 Eyewitness News. November 20, 2024. Archived from the original on November 22, 2024. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
- ^ a b "Senior FBI official forcefully resisted Trump administration firings". NBC News. February 1, 2025. Archived from the original on February 1, 2025. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
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| Federal Bureau of Investigation | ||
Italics denotes an acting director. | ||