FBI agents who have been driven out under the Trump administration are forming a support network to combat what they describe as a systematic undermining of the bureau's values. The network aims to provide legal, job-searching, and mental health assistance to former investigators while bolstering those who remain but are disheartened by the current leadership under Director Kash Patel.
Background of the FBI Support Network
For generations, FBI agents have carried the mantle of strength inherited from J. Edgar Hoover's G-men. Now, hardened veterans are projecting a different face as they fight back against what many see as an effort by Donald Trump to turn the bureau into an instrument of retribution. Complaints have emerged that many agents, including top leaders and intelligence analysts, have been fired, driven out, or forced to resign.
The FBI Support Network seeks to meet the legal, job-searching, and mental health needs of former investigators. Kayla Staph, a former FBI cyber-crime investigator and advisory committee member, noted that many agents are quietly dealing with mental health challenges caused by moral injuries from being pressured to violate their own values.
Mental Health and Moral Injuries
“As someone who worked as a special agent and carried myself as someone who is very strong, I’m still a human,” Staph told the Guardian. “We have challenges, just like everybody else, that we’re balancing life with work to be on top of a job that requires mental focus. That’s why one of the things we’re offering people is to connect them with mental health support, whether they’ve left and need support on the outside or they’re dealing with things on the inside.”
Staph described an “unprecedented assault” on the bureau’s institutional integrity and workforce since Trump returned to office in January last year and installed Patel, a loyalist and harsh FBI critic, as director. Patel had vowed to uproot a “deep state” culture he claimed was biased against Trump.
Scale of Departures and Leadership Loss
According to Staph, up to 2,800 agents have left since January 2025, based on the bureau’s own figures, many of them leadership figures seemingly targeted on purpose. The Office of Personnel Management cites a lower figure of 1,100 agents departed in the first year of the administration. “About one-third of the agents who have left were leaders in the organization,” Staph said. “They are the ones who understand the nature of the FBI core values and the people we look to to guide us in raising up the next generation. It would seem that driving out so many leaders was by design, because it alleviates obstacles if someone is trying to use the FBI for their own purposes.”
Notable Members and Video Launch
The network’s members include Brian Driscoll, who briefly served as acting director before Patel’s confirmation but was later fired after trying to protect agents involved in investigations targeting Trump, including the January 6 insurrection. Driscoll appears in a video announcing the network’s launch, stating its goal is “to offer our assistance to the special agents, intelligence analysts, and professional staff who are under attack.” The video also features the late Robert Mueller, former FBI director, who died in March at age 81. Trump gloated over Mueller’s death, posting he was “glad he is dead” due to Mueller’s role in the Russia collusion investigation. In the video, Mueller says, “We have a unique mission, we have a unique legacy that has been passed down to us, and I think people in the FBI know and understand and are tremendously proud to be part of that legacy.”
Staph, who resigned from the Norfolk, Virginia field office last September citing diversion of resources to mass deportation efforts, said the network speaks for remaining agents prohibited from publicly defending that legacy. “We’re doing something that FBI personnel can’t do from the inside,” she said. “They’re apolitical, so from the outside, we can speak out against the attacks on the bureau’s dedicated work and raise awareness about the importance of its mission-critical work.”
Reaction from National Security Experts
Steven Cash, executive director of Steady State, an organization of retired national security professionals, said the network’s formation is a reaction to an official drive to reshape US security services in an image resembling historically notorious agencies like the KGB, Gestapo, or Stasi. “The fact that former FBI people need a support group tells you the devastating impact of the president’s policies and Kash Patel’s policies,” said Cash, a former intelligence officer. “It’s an alarm bell ringing. These are people that stay on the line to the last. The fact that they need a support group tells us that American democracy itself and law enforcement needs a support group.” He added, “The fact that they’re organizing tells me that there’s something still powerful about the FBI, and I have confidence that the history of that organization is going to permit them to resist destruction.”
