New York FBI director forced into retirement amid federal department upheaval

James Dennehy was head of the New York FBI office until Feb. 28, when he was directed to submit retirement papers without explanation.

Dennehy’s forced retirement, as reported by The Associated Press, comes amidst upheaval in the federal government created by President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to eliminate waste by cutting funding to certain programs and cutting federal jobs.

New FBI Director Kash Patel took office in February and conservative podcaster Dan Bongino was named by Trump to serve as deputy director of the FBI.

Dennehy had reportedly resisted the Department of Justice‘s efforts to scrutinize agents who participated in politically sensitive investigations. The department also requested the FBI turn over a list of agents who had participated in investigations related to a riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Former Marine Dennehy refused to comply with the order and reportedly told colleagues in a message that he was prepared to “dig in.”

“I’ve been told many times in my life, ‘When you find yourself in a hole, sometimes it’s best to quit digging.’ Screw that. I will never stop defending this joint. I’ll just do it willingly and proudly from outside the wire,”
Dennehy wrote in the March 3 message.

He took charge of the New York office in September 2024 upon the departure of then FBI Director Christopher Wray. He joined the New York office as a special agent working on counterintelligence in 2002. In 2015, Dennehy transferred to Washington FBI headquarters and a year later was made section chief. He also was in charge of the Newark, New Jersey office at one time.

In early March, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi learned from an unidentified source that the New York office possessed documents related to financier Jeffrey Epstein and ordered them released to her and Patel for “an immediate investigation” of why her order to hand over all documents was not followed.

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