Kash Patel, the FBI director, is drawing criticism after participating in a snorkeling excursion at the USS Arizona memorial in Hawaii last summer, a site containing the remains of more than 1,100 Navy sailors and Marines killed in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Associated Press first reported the outing this week, noting that government emails described it as a "VIP snorkel" around the USS Arizona. The excursion took place in August during an official trip home from Patel's visits to Australia and New Zealand. Military officials coordinated the event at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
According to reporting by the New York Times, nine additional people joined Patel on the tour. The Navy confirmed Patel swam near the memorial site for approximately 30 minutes.
The FBI pushed back hard on the characterization, releasing a statement calling the AP's framing "so stupid" and describing the activity as a historical tour organized by regional military commanders. A spokesperson emphasized that such engagements are routine for visiting government officials and that Patel himself had offered similar events to interagency partners when he served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense during Trump's first administration.
"It's a historical tour to honor heroes who died on the USS Arizona, not a party," the FBI said in the statement.
Officials explained that Patel had been invited to Pearl Harbor by Admiral Samuel J. Paparo Jr., head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, as part of broader national security meetings across the region.
Navy and defense officials told the Times that VIP tours near the USS Arizona are not uncommon, though they declined to specify how frequently people are permitted to swim at the site. The Navy also refused to identify the nine individuals who accompanied Patel.
The AP reported that marine archaeologists and National Park Service crews periodically dive at the memorial to monitor the wreck and conduct burials of surviving crew members. Since at least the Obama administration, a limited number of military and government officials involved in the memorial's management have been granted access to swim there.
A former government diver told the AP that past participants have included Navy admirals, defense secretaries, and interior secretaries, suggesting the practice was intended to give senior officials firsthand knowledge of the memorial and its operations.
However, the AP found no record of previous FBI directors since at least 1993 snorkeling at the site, though they have visited on official business.
Former FBI Director James Comey addressed the matter during a CNN appearance, recounting his own visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial aboard a Navy vessel where he remained on the boat rather than entering the water. "When you're FBI director you have a responsibility to represent not just yourself but 38,000 people and an idea, an American idea that's respected around the world," Comey said. "You're always on duty, you're always being watched."
The controversy comes as Patel has faced other recent scrutiny for blending personal travel with official business.
Author James Rodriguez: "Patel's team claims routine courtesy, but the fact that no recent FBI director took the plunge suggests this crossed a line of perception that matters for the nation's top cop."
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