NSC aide who worked to discredit Russia probe moves to senior ODNI post
Kash Patel, a former top National Security Council official who also played a key role as a Hill staffer in helping Republicans discredit the Russia probe, is now a senior adviser for new acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, according to four people familiar with the matter.
It’s not clear what exact role Patel is playing in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the U.S. intelligence community. He started at ODNI on Thursday, according to an administration official.
Patel, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, joined the National Security Council’s International Organizations and Alliances directorate last February and was promoted to a senior counterterrorism role at the NSC in mid-summer.
He had previously worked as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)’s top staffer on the House Intelligence Committee and was the lead author of a report questioning the conduct of FBI and DOJ officials investigating Russia’s election interference. Republicans later used the report to bolster arguments that the probe was a plot to take down President Donald Trump.
Grenell, who has not served in any U.S. intelligence agency and will also continue as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, will not require Senate confirmation to serve as acting director. Nor will Patel in his new role.
On Thursday, Grenell won early support from two key members of GOP leadership. But it’s unclear if most Republicans — particularly on the Senate Intelligence Committee — are comfortable with the president’s choice. Intel Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) has remained conspicuously silent on the president’s choice of Grenell as acting director.
Burr’s counterpart Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, blasted the selection of Grenell, and said it was “an effort to sidestep the Senate’s constitutional authority to advise and consent on such critical national security positions.”
The selection of Patel is likely to raise hackles further among Democrats, who often tangled with the former Nunes staffer when he worked on Capitol Hill.
ODNI’s Principal Executive Andrew Hallman, who has been performing the duties of the principal deputy director of national intelligence, will be leaving the office as soon as Friday, according to three people familiar with the matter. It’s not clear whether Hallman, who is weighing his next steps, will go back to the CIA.
Spokespeople for the NSC and ODNI didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting.
