James Dennehy, the leader of New York’s FBI field office, abruptly retired Monday, sources confirmed to NBC news. Two sources said Dennehy faced a tough choice: resign or get fired. In a letter to staff, Dennehy said he was “forced out” and wasn’t given a reason for the decision. He also promised to “keep defending” the FBI and praised the office for always “remaining independent.”
The head of the FBI's New York Field Office was forced out of the bureau on Monday, a month after saying he was going to "dig in" following the Trump administration's removal of senior FBI leaders and requests for the names of all agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases, five sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Two of the sources said Assistant Director in Charge James Dennehy, a highly respected leader, was given a choice to resign or be fired. He was eligible for retirement and has officially retired.
In an email to colleagues on Monday announcing his retirement, Dennehy said he was forced out.
"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," he wrote in the email, noting that he was "not given a reason" for the decision.
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He went on to say he has "an immense feeling of pride — to have represented an office of professionals who will always do the right thing for the right reasons."
Dennehy urged FBI employees to protect the bureau from political interference. After FBI agents surveilled and smeared members of political groups viewed as "subversive" by longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover during the Cold War, a series of reforms were enacted to ensure that the bureau not be used by elected leaders to retaliate against their political enemies.
Dennehy urged his colleagues to maintain those values.
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In an email to his staff in February, Dennehy wrote that agents within the bureau "find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own as good people are being walked out of the FBI," as top leaders were resisting a request from the Trump Justice Department to turn over the names of all FBI employees who worked on the Capitol riot investigations.
"Others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy," his February email stated.
“Time for me to dig in,” Dennehy wrote.
The list eventually was turned over — first without the names, but later the names were also sent. But it's widely believed inside the FBI that the resistance by Dennehy, along with the acting director Brian Driscoll and acting deputy director Rob Kissane — prevented a mass firing of people associated with the Jan. 6th cases.
The move comes amid intense unease in the bureau, which will be headed by two Trump loyalists: Patel, a former federal prosecutor, Congressional staffer and national security official, and Dan Bongino, a right-wing podcast host and former Secret Service Agent and New York police officer who has accused the FBI of staging the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
FBI special agents expressed shock over the announcement that Bongino would take over the deputy director role, where he'll oversee the bureau's day-to-day operations. The announcement came just after the Senate confirmed Patel as the bureau's director in a largely party-line vote.
Trump has promised to fire "some" FBI special agents who worked Jan. 6 cases, claiming, without citing specific evidence, that they were "corrupt."
On Friday, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin demoted several top officials in that office, including high-ranking prosecutors who had worked key cases against Jan. 6 rioters and other Trump supporters.
Trump has nominated Martin — a "stop the steal" organizer who was on the grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 6 and who represented several Capitol attack defendants — to permanently run the U.S. Attorney's Office in the nation's capitol.
Dennehy spent six years in the Marine Corps before joining the FBI after 9/11, according to his LinkedIn resume. At the bureau he specialized in weapons counterproliferation, and spent time in management roles in both the Washington D.C. and New York field offices before being promoted to lead the New York office in 2022.
Before signing off his email with the Marine Corp motto "Semper Fidelis," he listed what he would miss about being part of the FBI.
Read his full message to colleagues below:
All,
Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did. I was not given a reason for this decision.
Regardless, I apologize to all of you for not being able to fulfill my commitment to you to serve as ADIC NY for at least two years. But as I leave today, I have an immense feeling of pride - to have represented an office of professionals who will always do the right thing for the right reasons; who will always seek the truth while upholding the rule of law; who will always follow the facts no matter where they lead and be unapologetic about it; who will never bend, break, falter, or quit on your integrity; who will always handle cases and evidence with an overabundance of caution and care for the innocent, the victims, and the process first; and who will always remain independent.
So with that, here is my final Top 10 list:
Top 10 Things I'll Miss about the FBI
10. The commute to work. NOT.
9. The investigations. Doesn't matter what squad you are on - the work is the best in the world.
8. The intensity. You have to be in it to realize what I mean. But we all know how significant what we do is.
7. The FBI brand. Do not fret. Those three letters still mean something - and there is only a select group of folks in this world, past and present, who can say they're with the FBI. Be proud of that.
6. The camaraderie - within our own Bureau family, and with all law enforcement - local, state, federal, and international. There is no better fraternity in the world.
5. The opportunity to put on a suit and tie to conduct interviews in the morning, throw on some street clothes to conduct surveillance in the afternoon, debrief a sensitive source in a safehouse overnight, and then get up early for a SWAT arrest the next morning. Then rinse and repeat.
4. The badge. What it took to earn it and what it means to carry it.
3. The independence. We will not bend. We will not falter. We will not sacrifice what is right for anything or anyone.
2. The impact. Our work helps shape foreign policy, community awareness, international relations, wartime decisions, and public safety. Every. Single. Day.
1. All of you - every single one of you who has earned your position within this phenomenal organization.
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.
Semper Fidelis,
JD
