FBI Director Kash Patel is being driven around in specially armored BMWs that the FBI bought at his request.
Patel had pressed the FBI for this high-end vehicle for the purpose of being less conspicuous on his outings, according to four sources familiar with his transportation who requested anonymity to avoid risk of retribution. FBI directors, protected by a security detail, have traditionally been driven in a Chevrolet Suburban — whether for meetings, evening events or their daily commute.
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson confirmed that the FBI purchased BMW X5s for the director’s use, saying the bureau planned to acquire updated vehicles and this choice was less expensive than others it considered. He declined to provide documents showing the cost of the new vehicle or buttressing his contention that it would save money compared with the existing government fleet available for FBI use.
“Government agencies, including the FBI, routinely evaluate, replace and update vehicle fleets based on usage, security needs or budgetary decisions,” he said. “The specific decisions referenced in this article were evaluated partly as a way to save taxpayers millions by picking cheaper selections or making cost structures more efficient.”
The government has a contract with BMW for the armored luxury SUVs; specifically, the State Department uses them to protect diplomats and other officials in high-risk environments around the world.
MS NOW has also learned, according to the four people, that Patel earlier this year pressed the FBI to purchase a new, more modern FBI jet for his use, but the proposal was abandoned over cost estimates that were between $90 million and $115 million.
The BMW is the latest example of what many current and former officials see as the FBI director’s questionable use of the public’s dollars. Patel has also come under fire for taking personal trips on the FBI’s Gulfstream jet, which he says he is required to do pursuant to a government policy.
Stacey Young, a former Justice Department official who founded Justice Connection — a network of former DOJ employees — says the BMW request is another example of Patel putting his public image ahead of concern for taxpayer resources, calling it “an embarrassment.”
She referred to a complaint from a recent report, based on anonymous accounts from more than 20 former and current FBI and law enforcement personnel. Arriving on the scene in Utah after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Patel, the report said, would not get off his FBI jet until agents brought him a medium-size FBI raid jacket to wear for the cameras outside.
“He needs a field jacket that fits just right, a ‘Punisher’-inspired challenge coin and a new fleet of foreign cars to drive around in,” Young said.
Patel has disputed criticism that he is squandering resources as “nonsense,” defending the use of the jet and calling himself a “steward of the taxpayer dollars.”
Patel is the first director to have use of this specialized foreign-branded vehicle, law enforcement personnel told MS NOW. The government has a contract with General Motors to provide a fleet of Suburbans, a type of large sport utility vehicle, which can be upgraded as needed to include security features such as armor plating, run-flat tires and ballistic glass. Patel’s security detail still occasionally transports him in a Suburban, often during workday hours, the sources said. They said Patel has argued that he needs to move around in a more covert manner, which the BMW would allow.
A person close to Patel, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details, said that it would have cost the government $480,000 to purchase a new armored Suburban, part of an upgrade Patel was considering, and that was more than twice the cost of the BMW. The person did not explain why a new vehicle was needed.
Asked about the alleged cost savings, a Democratic congressional aide said, “They don’t go out and buy one new vehicle for a fleet refresh; they contract with General Motors for 20 of them at a discount.”
FBI spokesman Williamson disputed this but did not provide specifics.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee recently opened an investigation into Patel’s use of government resources.
According to the company’s website, BMW markets its specially armored X5 as uniquely equipped to shield passengers from a range of threats.
“It offers protection not just against attacks with blunt instruments and handguns, but also against the world’s most widely used firearm, the AK-47,” the website says. It also says that it reinforces the car’s compartment with steel armor, to prevent gunfire from piercing vulnerable areas, including where body panels join.
Critics and former FBI officials said Patel’s use of FBI resources — and his request for a new jet — are inappropriate. Previous directors often traveled in Suburbans without armor reinforcements, according to former FBI officials, because agents considered the risk of them being gunned down in Washington and its suburbs very low.
As for Patel’s failed request for a more modern jet, accounts differ on his reasoning. Two people familiar with the matter said he wanted a more modern airplane and found the existing director’s jet dated.
The person close to Patel said the director was trying to save money “because the existing leasing structure of the plane was incredibly expensive … and the thought was that getting out of that lease and purchasing a different one would save millions in the long haul.”
But “when the numbers came back, the plan was scrapped,” the person said, adding that the cost was about $60 million.
Patel then ordered that the communications equipment in the existing Gulfstream jet be upgraded, according to two sources familiar with his proposal. The two sources said Patel argued that he needed more reliable internet on the plane so multiple people could post simultaneously on social media. Patel’s X accounts are frequently updated.
But a person close to the director said he ordered the upgrade for a different reason: “It wasn’t for social media. He rarely, if ever, posts on social media himself. It was because we had multiple secure comms calls both scheduled and unscheduled that were dropping on official travel and we needed to fix it.”
The person gave an example of one of those dropped calls: “There was one with the attorney general in the spring during an active shooter situation where we couldn’t connect on a flight back from a field office visit.”
Former FBI officials who traveled with previous directors told MS NOW that this explanation does not square with their experience on the director’s jet. They said the jet was equipped with a communications station directly behind the cockpit specifically for potential national security crises or emergencies when the director had to confer with the White House or other senior administration officials. The officials said that a technical aide was positioned there to connect such emergency secure calls, but that those calls were exceedingly rare — as few as a handful in the course of a year — and they never experienced connection problems that weren’t quickly resolved. They said the internet connection on the jet, however, could be “balky” and unreliable on occasion.
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.