Joining law enforcement officials to update the public in the hours after a man killed 14 people and injured dozens of others in New Orleans, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) implored the FBI to “catch these people” — and then added one more eyebrow-raising request of the federal government. “After we get to the bottom of this,” he said, “they need to tell the American people the truth.” The comment appeared to allude to an FBI official’s erroneous assertion that the Bourbon Street rampage was “not a terrorist event,” a misstep the FBI tried to clean up with a statement that said the bureau was indeed investigating the Islamic State group-inspired attack as “an act of terrorism.” The suggestion that federal officials might obscure the truth of the investigation, and Kennedy’s warning that he would “raise fresh hell” if they did, reflected the uneasy position the FBI had already found itself in, bracing for a leadership change that may produce dramatic upheaval at the premier federal law enforcement agency, the Associated Press reports.
The attack by Shamsud-Din Jabbar happened just over two weeks before FBI director Christopher Wray plans to resign his position to make way for Trump’s pick, Kash Patel. It follows a turbulent stretch in which the bureau has faced an escalating threat of international and domestic terrorism and has been at the center of politically explosive national security investigations involving both Trump and President Biden that have put the FBI on the defensive and their decision-making under scrutiny. The New Orleans attack is certain to make counterterrorism and national security core topics of discussion at Patel’s yet-to-be-scheduled confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A former Justice Department national security prosecutor, Patel has said on podcasts that the FBI needed a major overhaul. He’s been less specific about how he would protect the homeland. One area he has discussed is significant reforms on how agents and analysts make use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act eavesdropping powers in national security investigations. He has also favored breaking out the FBI's "intel shops" from the rest of its crime-fighting activities.
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