Three more FBI agents fired by Kash Patel, the agency's director, recently filed lawsuits challenging the legality of their terminations, joining 12 others who sued in December. The alleged sin of the more recent litigants? Participating in the investigation of Donald Trump for interfering in the 2020 presidential election. As our war with Iran continues, the FBI can ill afford to lose experienced agents.

One of the hazards of a president who chooses sycophants as leaders is the risk it creates for the American people during a crisis.

The air strikes on Iran that began Feb. 28 have prompted at least four terrorist attacks: a man wearing a shirt bearing the colors of Iran’s flag on March 1 shot up a bar in Austin, Texas, killing three people and injuring 13; two teens allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group attempted to detonate an explosive device at a protest in New York City on March 7; a former National Guard member and convicted terrorist shot into a classroom of ROTC students in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 12, killing the instructor and injuring two students; on the same day, a man drove his car into Temple Israel synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself when approached by security guards. Reports indicate that he was distraught after the recent deaths of family members whose home in Lebanon was attacked by Israel.

The motives of all of these attacks remain under investigation, but they highlight the risks of underestimating the value of counterterrorism expertise.

FBI agent firings make us vulnerable

While political violence is never justified, it is foreseeable. When I served as a federal counterterrorism prosecutor and crisis manager, I learned that when the United States attacks a foreign nation, we can anticipate that lone wolf actors may seek retribution.

And when the target is a state sponsor of terrorism like Iran, the risks are even higher. But at the very moment when we should be on high alert, our counterterrorism resources have been depleted.

At the Justice Department, national security experts have been fired or reassigned. The department’s national security division has lost half its lawyers.

The same week that the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began, Patel fired nearly a dozen counterterrorism agents because they had worked on the investigation into Trump’s retention of sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021.

These agents were part of a global counterespionage unit known as CI-12, an elite cadre of agents that specializes in threats from Iran. According to one report, their terminations were so abrupt that they had no time to hand off their human sources to colleagues.

Among the agents was at least one who worked at the Iran Threats Mission Center. Add to that loss the thousands of Homeland Security agents who have been reassigned from national security roles to address Trump’s immigration crackdown.

What’s more, instead of using targeted enforcement, the Trump administration has favored quantity over quality, scooping up day laborers and restaurant workers when they could be finding known threats to public safety or national security, who are left unchecked.

Patel partied when he should have projected strength

Besides the depleted ranks, we also have leaders seemingly selected on the basis of their obedience to the president rather than their experience in protecting national security. Days before the war began, instead of preparing resources to assess the threat of retaliation in the event of an attack on Iran, Patel was slamming beers with the USA men's hockey team in the locker room after they won a gold medal at the Olympics in Italy.

An important part of countering terrorism is projecting strength. The point of political violence is to stoke fear in a civilian population to coerce their government into backing down.

As a result, strong leaders will reaffirm American resolve in the face of terrorism. Does anyone feel safer with Patel at the helm of the FBI?

Heading toward a dangerous future

In my view, the objectives laid out for war in Iran aren't coherent. Regime change? Nuclear disarmament? Retaliation for violence against protesters? Distraction from the release of the Epstein files?

Who knows. But the blowback against Americans on U.S. soil should come as no surprise. A government that works for the people would be prepared by building up resources, not tearing them down.

We deserve leaders who understand that protecting the lives of the American people is more important than having the president’s back.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, is the author of an forthcoming book, "The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government."

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