FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed Tuesday that the bureau has seen both terminations and resignations connected to an internal memo produced by the agency’s Richmond field office in early 2023, which sought to investigate “radical-traditionalist” Catholic communities.
Patel made the revelation under questioning from Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.
“There have been terminations related to this and resignations,” Patel said, without identifying the specific officials who were disciplined or departed over the memo.
The Richmond document became public in February 2023 after it was leaked to a former FBI agent. The memo, which leaned heavily on analysis from the Southern Poverty Law Center, suggested that traditionalist Catholic groups could harbor domestic extremists. The document was quickly withdrawn following intense public backlash, but it sparked a national controversy over the FBI’s approach to religious communities.
Former Director Christopher Wray had previously sought to downplay the issue, characterizing it as the work of a single office. However, Patel testified Tuesday that multiple FBI offices were involved in its development and acknowledged that a second draft memo was created but never circulated because of the uproar.
FBI Reforms Sourcing Practices
In his testimony, Patel detailed reforms the bureau implemented in the wake of the controversy. He said the FBI has adopted stricter sourcing standards to prevent informants from being placed inside houses of worship except in cases involving active terrorism threats.
“The FBI will ensure sources are not put into churches unless there is a clear, ongoing terrorism threat,” Patel told lawmakers.
Patel also emphasized his personal commitment to protecting religious communities, saying, “Any ideologically based attack against any faith, as a man of faith myself, will not be tolerated, and the full resources of the FBI are committed to all of it.”
Investigations Into Anti-Catholic Hate Crimes
Patel revealed the bureau is actively investigating anti-Catholic violence nationwide. He said the FBI is currently pursuing 60 reported incidents of anti-Catholic hate crimes, including five ongoing cases in Kansas City, Louisville, Houston, Nashville, and Richmond.
The director’s comments come amid a surge in attacks on Catholic parishes and institutions in recent years. Hundreds of incidents have been reported since 2020, with numbers spiking after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
One particularly brutal attack occurred last month in Minneapolis, where a gunman opened fire on Annunciation Catholic School during a parish Mass. The shooter, identified as 34-year-old Robin Westman, killed two children and injured several others before taking his own life. Investigators later confirmed the suspect had decorated his weapons with inverted crosses and desecrated religious images prior to the assault.
Ongoing Congressional Scrutiny
The memo scandal has remained a flashpoint in Congress. At his January confirmation hearing, Patel pledged to Senator Hawley that he would eradicate anti-Catholic bias from the bureau. On Tuesday, he confirmed that the FBI has turned over documents to congressional investigators showing the problem extended beyond a single field office, directly contradicting Wray’s earlier assurances.
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