Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting
"Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said.
Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet to discuss the nation’s most pressing threats and update each other on federal law enforcement’s biggest investigations.
The huddle, in a secure facility on the 6th floor of Justice Department headquarters, dates back through decades of presidential administrations. It has continued since President Donald Trump was inaugurated, but many of the veteran career officials have been removed from their jobs and no longer attend.
The top national security deputies from Justice are gone — transferred from the posts they have held for years to undefined roles dealing with immigration enforcement and “sanctuary cities.” The heads of the FBI’s criminal division and international terrorism division were pushed out. A longtime deputy in Justice’s criminal division focused on international affairs was transferred to sanctuary cities, but opted to retire instead.
Devin DeBacker, a national security prosecutor, had started attending the meeting when he stepped in as acting head of the national security division as the Biden administration ended. But he was abruptly removed from that post Monday night and returned to his role leading the division’s foreign investment review section.
The absences are just one example of how the Trump administration’s shake-ups at Justice and the FBI have eroded the continuity on national security matters that has long been a cornerstone of presidential transitions, according to multiple people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Nearly all the career officials who attended the daily session for years — including during the first Trump administration — have been removed from their positions, gutting much of the expertise usually there to brief the attorney general, FBI director and top deputies. Past presidents did not make such sweeping changes in career personnel.
“Part of the reason why you keep the civil service there is to provide the continuity and context that the rotating political leadership does not have,” said David Aaron, a former national security prosecutor who now works in private practice and is not involved with the morning meeting. “When a situation comes up, they have the perspective of, ‘What have we done in the past? Did it work, did it not.’ ”
The Justice Department declined to comment. But Trump administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on this topic, said they are confident that they have ample qualified national security staff at the Justice Department and FBI to keep the country safe. They said the removal of top leaders will not hamper law enforcement.
Every presidential administration handles the morning meeting differently, with each attorney general deciding the invite list. While the meeting is not the only way the attorney general and top deputies are briefed on threats, it is a key opportunity for top Justice Department, FBI and other intelligence officials to easily communicate about the dangers facing the United States and decide how best to leverage resources and personnel to combat them.
In their farewell addresses in January, outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI director Christopher A. Wray warned that America was facing unprecedented threats domestically and abroad. During their tenures, they cited China’s attempts to penetrate key U.S. infrastructure, Iranians threatening the lives of political officials, Middle East extremism, mounting threats against public officials in the United States and more.
Amid that environment, national security experts said, the loss of veteran career experts could have serious implications if they are not quickly replaced with others who are qualified and up to speed on how the Justice Department and FBI operate.
“When you pull such a knowledgeable base out of an agency, you create a vacuum,” said a former FBI agent who served as a senior official in the bureau, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted for political harassment. “Every time you miss an opportunity to bring in people who understand the scope and depth of the issues, you risk missing things.”
Most of the top national security officials fired or transferred at the Justice Department and FBI have not yet been replaced, according to multiple people familiar with the personnel changes. Sue J. Bai, a former national security prosecutor in California who also served in the White House during Trump’s first term, is expected to succeed DeBacker as acting head of the national security division, the people said. The Trump administration had recently hired her to work in the deputy attorney general’s office.
Trump’s appointees at the Justice Department have been leading the morning meeting in recent weeks, running through the threats of the day. Multiple people familiar with the situation said the appointees appear more interested and animated by immigration enforcement — a top priority of both Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi — than other national security topics.
Some of the regular attendees under President Joe Biden — including section heads — were political appointees who were expected to depart once Trump took power. But many others who had come to the meeting for years were expected to stay on.
Typically, FBI directors, who are allowed to serve up to 10-year terms, span presidential administrations. Wray stepped down, however, after Trump signaled he would fire him and replace him with Kash Patel, an avowed Trump loyalist. Paul Abbate — Wray’s deputy, who was supposed to serve as acting director while Patel awaited confirmation — left the bureau soon after. Abbate was also pushed out, according to multiple people familiar with the personnel move.
Acting FBI director Brian Driscoll and acting deputy director Robert Kissane have been attending the meeting. But both are newly promoted from senior regional roles and did not attend during the Biden administration. Driscoll sometimes brings along an assistant director with the relevant subject matter expertise, a person familiar with the situation said.
Two top national security deputies at Justice — Eun Young Choi, who focused on cybercrimes, and George Toscas, a senior official for nearly two decades — stopped coming when they were transferred the sanctuary cities division in the early days of the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter. Bruce Swartz, the deputy for international affairs in Justice’s criminal division and another frequent attendee, opted to retire rather than accept a similar move.
Michael Nordwall, who had headed the FBI’s criminal and cyber investigations division, and Robert Wells, whose portfolio included all of national security for the FBI, attended the meeting daily for the first weeks of the Trump administration, just as they had under Biden. But they both were pushed out.
Multiple people said Nordwall and Wells had wanted to stay in their jobs during the Trump administration, and Driscoll fought to keep them, but acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove refused.
The department’s new leadership has quickly lost the trust among many career national security staffers, according to people familiar with the division.
When Choi and Toscas learned that they would be transferred, DeBacker told his staff that Bove said there would be no more removals within the national security division, the people said.
But days later, Bove fired Brett Reynolds, a national security prosecutor who worked on the special counsel team that investigated Trump.
Some officials have been shunted from their areas of expertise into a form of stasis, where they have new assignments but no actual work to do so far. The officials who accepted their sanctuary cities assignments have asked for details on their roles but have been offered little information, people familiar with the situation said.
Bondi’s exact role in or plans for the morning meeting could not be learned in recent days. But it seems clear she does not want any remnants of the last administration to linger in Justice Department headquarters.
On one of her first days as attorney general, Bondi entered a secured facility in the national security division, two people familiar with her actions said. She saw portraits of Biden, former vice president Kamala Harris and Garland.
In front of multiple Justice Department employees, Bondi pulled the portraits from the wall and stacked them in a corner.
Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report."
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