In Shake-Up, Trump Administration Jolts F.B.I. by Installing Acting Leader

The Trump administration said on Monday that it had named two veteran agents to run the F.B.I. as the bureau braces for potentially tumultuous changes under a president who has repeatedly denounced the agency.

Brian Driscoll, who was recently named the special agent in charge of the Newark field office, will be acting director, according to a statement on the White House’s website. Robert Kissane, the top counterterrorism agent in New York, will serve as the acting deputy director. Both men are well-respected inside the F.B.I.

In an email to F.B.I. employees, Mr. Driscoll said the acting attorney general had asked Mr. Kissane to fill the deputy role. Mr. Driscoll said he looked forward to working with Mr. Kissane over the “course of the transition to ensure the F.B.I.’s critical mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution continues.”

The decision to elevate Mr. Driscoll and Mr. Kissane to the seventh floor of bureau headquarters where senior leadership sits signals that the Trump administration wanted a clean break after lengthy F.B.I. investigations that ensnared the president.

Kash Patel, Mr. Trump’s pick to run the F.B.I., had written that the president needed to “fire the top ranks of the F.B.I.”

The moves capped a chaotic 24 hours after Paul Abbate, the longtime No. 2, became acting director on Sunday and retired just hours later, fueling confusion about who would run the bureau. Before the White House published Mr. Driscoll’s name, Mr. Kissane had been mentioned as a possibility for acting director, people familiar with the matter said.

As the changes were underway, Mr. Patel made clear his skepticism toward the bureau at a political rally. “We are going to remove the weaponization of the intelligence community for political purposes, and we are going to put the men and women of America first,” he said.

Mr. Abbate was installed as acting director after Christopher A. Wray, the previous director, announced last month that he would step down before the inauguration. President Trump appointed Mr. Wray in 2017 but publicly attacked him and the F.B.I., which repeatedly investigated Mr. Trump.

In a rare move, Mr. Wray extended the service of Mr. Abbate, who is 57, the mandatory retirement age for certain F.B.I. agents.

In an email to senior F.B.I. officials, Mr. Abbate wrote: “When the director asked me to stay on past my mandatory date for a brief time, I did so to help ensure continuity and the best transition for the F.B.I. Now, with new leadership inbound, after nearly four years in the deputy role, I am departing.”

He added, “I have complete confidence in you and in your ability as a team to continue to carry out our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution.”

A spokeswoman for the F.B.I. declined to comment.

Mr. Abbate was named deputy director in February 2021, and Mr. Wray has said it was one of the best decisions he made during his time at the bureau. As deputy, Mr. Abbate oversaw all of the F.B.I.’s domestic and international investigative and intelligence activities and operations. The bureau has about 38,000 employees with agents stationed around the world and other U.S. agencies.

Mr. Trump has said he intends to nominate Mr. Patel, 44, to be the bureau’s next director. His confirmation hearing has not been scheduled yet, though it could come at the end of the month. Typically the acting director would remain in place until Mr. Patel was confirmed by the Senate to ensure stability at the highest ranks of the bureau. But it was clear that the administration wanted a fresh start in filling the two top slots at the bureau.

Former agents said that Mr. Kissane and Mr. Patel have a history together. Mr. Kissane was the case agent for the F.B.I.’s investigation into the 2010 bombings in Kampala, Uganda, that killed scores of people, including an American, watching the World Cup finals. As a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Mr. Patel was assigned to help the Ugandan prosecution team.

Mr. Driscoll, a decorated agent, previously worked in the F.B.I.’s New York field office.

It is not clear if Mr. Patel knows Mr. Driscoll, who spent many years on the F.B.I.’s elite hostage rescue team and commanding it. Neither Mr. Driscoll nor Mr. Kissane worked on the F.B.I.’s Russia investigation in 2016 that Mr. Patel and the President Trump have repeatedly dismissed as a hoax. He also does not appear to worked on two prosecutions of Mr. Trump that the president and Mr. Patel have decried.

Mr. Patel will need to rely on senior F.B.I. leaders to run the organization. He lacks the experience of previous directors, but his unwavering loyalty to Mr. Trump has catapulted him to consideration for the F.B.I.’s top job.

He has portrayed law enforcement agencies as part of an inept and politicized “deep state,” and he has fiercely criticized the agency and Justice Department over a court-authorized warrant to search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida.

In his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters,” Mr. Patel published an extensive enemies list that includes a current F.B.I. agent and an analyst. Mr. Wray also made the list, but Mr. Abbate did not appear on it.

Former and current F.B.I. officials are concerned about the drastic changes Mr. Patel has promised at a time that Mr. Wray has said the country faces a serious increase in threats, including from terrorism or from countries like China.

For Mr. Wray, the decision to resign was not an easy one. Last month, he explained to F.B.I. employees why he made the choice, rather than finish out his 10-year term in 2027.

“After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,” he said. He added that “in my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.”