A group of former FBI agents and intelligence analysts has launched a support network to assist current and former colleagues affected by what they describe as an “unprecedented assault” on the bureau’s integrity under President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel, citing mental health challenges and “moral injuries” among those who have been fired or forced out.
The FBI Support Network aims to provide legal assistance, job-search help, and mental health counseling to former investigators while championing the bureau’s traditional values, according to members of the network’s advisory committee. The group says it also speaks for remaining agents who are prohibited by the bureau’s apolitical mandate from publicly defending its legacy.
Kayla Staph, a former FBI cyber-crime investigator who serves on the network’s advisory committee, said the bureau has undergone a “calculated effort at dismantlement” since Trump returned to office in January 2025 and installed Patel — a former FBI critic who had vowed to uproot a “deep state” culture — as director.
“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.”
She said the bureau’s own figures show up to 2,800 agents have left since January 2025. The Office of Personnel Management has cited a lower figure of 1,100 agents departing 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 that we look to to guide us in raising up that 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.”
The network’s launch video features a poignant contribution from Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who died in March. Mueller’s death was met with a social media post from Trump saying he was “glad he is dead” because of Mueller’s role as special counsel in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In the video, Mueller says: “We have a unique mission, we have a unique legacy that has been passed down to us.”
Brian Driscoll, who served as acting director for a brief period before Patel’s Senate confirmation and was later fired for trying to protect agents targeted for their work on previous investigations of Trump, also appears in the video, saying the network’s goal is “to offer our assistance to the special agents, intelligence analysts and the professional staff who are under attack.”
Staph, who resigned from her position at the bureau’s Norfolk, Virginia field office last September citing the diversion of resources to mass deportation efforts, said the network serves as a voice for those who cannot speak out from within the bureau.
“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.”
Steven Cash, executive director of the Steady State organization, a group of retired national security professionals dedicated to safeguarding the rule of law, said the network’s formation reflects a drive to reshape U.S. security services in an image resembling historically notorious agencies.
“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.”
Cash added that the act of organizing was itself a sign of resilience: “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.”