Patel made no attempt to sugarcoat his reasoning. In Giardina’s dismissal letter, he wrote:
“You have exercised poor judgment and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of the government.”
Letter from FBI Director Kash Patel firing veteran FBI agent Walter Giardina, whose wife died of cancer last month at age 49. Patel accuses this agent, a Marine combat veteran, of “weaponization.” Many of his FBI colleagues told me he did his job scrupulously and ethically. pic.twitter.com/MUMoQhq37K
Yet the signatories of the open letter are accusing Patel and Bongino of “dismantling the FBI’s long-standing independence” and replacing it with “political loyalty.” This, from the same crowd that spent the better part of a decade using the Bureau as the Democrat Party’s private enforcement arm.
The Deep State letter also claims Patel and Bongino “don’t meet the basic standards” to run the FBI — ignoring Patel’s role as the bulldog who helped dismantle the Russia-collusion hoax and Bongino’s decades of service protecting U.S. presidents as a decorated Secret Service agent.
The letter, titled “An Open Letter to the Men and Women of the FBI from The Steady State Expressing Support and Alarm Over Politicization and Retribution – A Purge”, declares:
“We write to you as former members of the U.S. intelligence, diplomatic, defense, and national security communities—veterans of service to both Republican and Democratic administrations.
We are The Steady State, a nonpartisan group of professionals who have served in the CIA, FBI, State Department, Department of Defense, NSA, DHS, and the uniformed military… Whatever the mission, one constant was our respect for—and reliance on—the integrity, professionalism, and independence of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
They go on to insist that the dismissal of Driscoll, Feinberg, and Giardina is “part of a broader campaign to dismantle the FBI’s long-standing independence” and allege it’s tied to “perceived personal disloyalty to former President Donald Trump.”
The letter accuses Patel and Bongino of transforming the FBI “into a personal enforcement arm of a political figure” and warns that such a shift is reminiscent of “regimes” abroad.
“We have seen these dynamics abroad—leaders who demand loyalty from security services not to the law, but to themselves. These regimes do not end well.”
They conclude with a message to current and former FBI agents, urging them to resist what they call political pressure:
“Your integrity matters. Your courage matters. The nation is watching… And history will remember.”
NEW: Group of former national security & FBI officials issue warning about ongoing purge inside FBI
“The aim, it seems, is to transform the FBI from a respected, constitutionally grounded investigative service into a personal enforcement arm of a political figure. We have seen… pic.twitter.com/b4THbbdXC5
Critics of the letter see it for what it is — a desperate move by former power brokers who lost their grip on an agency they once controlled. Patel and Bongino’s leadership marks a rare moment where the Bureau is finally being held accountable for years of political bias.
If the outrage from Washington’s old guard is any sign, the purge might just be working.
