FBI Deputy Director and former Fox News host Dan Bongino could soon be getting a 20-person team of bodyguards for a job that doesn’t typically come with a security detail.
The FBI is reportedly seeking agents to temporarily leave their jobs to serve as muscle for the brash ex-pundit, according to NBC News.
Sources told the outlet that a message sent to FBI agents last week asked for volunteers to spend 30 days on a team tasked with protecting Bongino 24 hours a day. Round-the-clock protection could require as many as 20 bodyguards working rotating shifts, according to two former FBI officials familiar with security details.
Historically, the FBI’s No. 2 position does not come with security. Paul Abbate, who served as the FBI’s deputy director under Biden, reportedly had a single part-time agent accompany him to some events, but otherwise carried a gun to defend himself.
Bongino could also get permission from the FBI to carry his own firearm, but instead opted for bodyguards, according to NBC News.
Bongino — himself a former Secret Service agent who protected presidents Bush and Obama — is second in command to Kash Patel in the nation’s top law enforcement agency. Both men entered their posts with little pertinent experience and long histories of criticizing the agency.
Former senior FBI official Frank Figliuzzi told NBC News it’s “ridiculous” that Bongino wants a security team paid for by tax dollars. Another former agent said assigning officers to protection duty puts a strain on the department.
While the FBI didn’t address the outlet’s report, Bongino may have offered some context on social media with a somewhat cryptic message posted Sunday.
“When you see something happen, and the entire story isn’t public, and the underlying facts aren’t all public, it may appear counterintuitive to our reform agenda,” he wrote. “I realized when I signed up that I’d never be able to fully explain some decisions we make due to legal and ethical constraints. But that’s a pill I agreed to swallow when I swore in.”
Bongino, a former New York City cop-turned-MAGA podcaster, is the first FBI deputy director who didn’t serve in the bureau before being given the job.
