A Former FBI Agent’s Thank-You Message to Brian Driscoll

Unknown outside the FBI until mistakenly made Acting FBI Director, Driscoll should be honored for his courage and his example of true strength through self-sacrifice.

It was Friday, January 31, 2025. I was sitting in my car parked at a home improvement store, spending my day off with my husband, when the messages started pouring in from FBI coworkers.

A pit formed in my stomach as I read the messages – there were rumors about FBI squads involved in January 6 investigations at the Washington field office being “walked out,” a phrase we in the FBI understood to mean summarily dismissed. On that day, it was just that – a rumor. Some agents had left carrying boxes with personal items because they anticipated being dismissed, and that led to fear and panic of mass firings.

In the FBI, to be summarily dismissed means to be fired immediately. People who are summarily dismissed are escorted out of the workplace the day they are informed of their dismissal.

This was, until this administration, extraordinarily rare.

For those beyond probationary status, conditions to warrant a summary dismissal must be egregious – involving conditions such as risks to public safety, risks to national security, or other exigent considerations. Otherwise, there is (was) a robust due process system for investigating and adjudicating allegations of misconduct. The idea of whole squads being summarily dismissed was unthinkable.

Another bombshell dropped when we heard a list would be created documenting all individuals who had contributed to any January 6 case, and that those on the list could be subject to dismissal. The net was going to be wide, not only listing case agents, but also professional staff – around 6,000 people across the FBI, all of them acting within the scope of predicated investigations.

FBI agents do not choose the cases they work. I wasn’t on that list because I hadn’t been assigned to work on January 6 cases. But, it could have easily been me.

Normally, FBI employees are protected from the shifting whims of administration changes and shielded from political retribution.

The work of the FBI is endless, constant, and critical. To instantaneously lose 6,000 people out of roughly 38,000 would have caused a disastrous disruption to the protection of our country. American safety would be compromised as collateral damage.

At some point that day, Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll sent an email stating that he too would be on the list as he attempted to calm anxieties. In the evening, I and several other FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) field office representatives joined a conference call hosted by a FBIAA regional representative. The FBIAA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing support and advocacy to active and former Special Agents of the FBI. I ferociously scribbled notes into a notebook.

After the call and knowing there was nothing else to do that night, I finally spent some time with my husband. I don’t think I slept. But I prayed: Help us God.

During the weekend, there were reports indicating that Driscoll intervened and prevented the mass terminations ordered by then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove. A small sense of relief emerged. Someone was at the helm, holding back what had felt like an unavoidable catastrophe.

On Monday, I held a quick FBIAA meeting for our field office. The room was full, and I relayed all the information I had obtained from the Friday night meeting. I was looking at some of the finest people I had ever known, and we were all sitting with palpable uncertainty.

Colleagues who were on the list had other meetings. They had conversations with their families about practical preparations in case they were summarily dismissed. They needed to decide whether they could afford their mortgage or if they’d have to relocate to another state and stay with relatives until they were financially stable again. To add insult to injury, they received a survey requesting further information about their actions and involvement in January 6 cases. The survey response was expected without afforded time, explanation of its purpose, nor the ability to speak with counsel or other representation. They were expected to manage all of this while simultaneously maintaining their attention on complex criminal and national security matters.

But in the midst of havoc, there was Driscoll. Not only did he reject the unlawful firings of individuals, but he also directed the list to be compiled without employees’ names and instead use employee ID numbers. Credible information was uncovered that the list was intended to be made public, which had garnered even more fear (before the end of the week, a temporary restraining order, or TRO, was filed to prevent the sudden public release of the list).

There were plenty of recently pardoned individuals who maintained deep grievances and had already shown their willingness to use violence. According to the TRO, multiple hashtags were trending on X linking pardoned individuals “to each other in posts promoting violence and insurrection against law enforcement agents.”

The fact that Driscoll was defending FBI employees during these circumstances spoke volumes to us. I remember receiving the brilliant and humorous video in which he was depicted as Batman. We couldn’t leave our posts to stand on a picket line on behalf of our colleagues, but we found solace and solidarity that we were together, and we had an advocate. Driscoll gained abiding trust and respect that week. Additional lauding, artificially generated memes circulated, such as one depicting Driscoll as a saint and another with his face encircled by the question, “What Would Drizz Do?”

When I read the news in August that Driscoll, among others, was summarily dismissed, I froze staring at the breaking news article on my cell phone.

Throughout the months, there have been consistent destructive decisions perpetrated by FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and other leaders in government. There are no signs of this behavior changing, including but not limited to ongoing, unjust summary dismissals.

The lawsuit that was filed in response to the firing details Driscoll’s accomplishments. But those, as outstanding as they are, are not primarily what made him a great leader.

His exceptional leadership was demonstrated by his willingness to take personal risks for the benefit of those under him, including during his final week in the FBI. The lawsuit provides further insight into how Driscoll supported his people, even as others tried to create panic and anxiety.

Great leadership is forged in these circumstances.

When history remembers this time, Driscoll will stand in stark contrast to both his successors and other individuals appointed to prominent roles within our government. They may have grand followings for now, force compliance through fear, use bombastically degrading speech, and show “strength” through revenge. But they will be found wanting.

Driscoll, who did not seek fame and was largely unknown by name before he was mistakenly made Acting FBI Director, will be honored for his courage, his unwavering dedication to integrity in the face of challenge, and his example of true strength through self-sacrifice.

Thank you, Brian, for protecting all of us – while knowing what it would likely cost you in the end.

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Kayla Staph served nearly five years as an FBI Special Agent, handling national security cyber, criminal cyber, and counterterrorism cases. Kayla served on the Crisis Negotiation Team, Evidence Response Team, and was a FBIAA field office representative.