Overview

• FBI Director Kash Patel has shut down the Office of Internal Auditing, which was tasked with ensuring compliance with warrantless surveillance rules under FISA Section 702.
• The office, established in 2020 by then-Attorney General William Barr, was a response to documented abuses in the FBI's surveillance practices revealed by a 2019 inspector general report.
• The functions of the now-closed office have been merged into the FBI's inspection division as part of a broader organizational restructuring under Patel's leadership.
• The closure coincides with ongoing congressional deliberations over whether to reauthorize or reform Section 702, a law criticized for enabling warrantless surveillance of Americans.
• Patel, once a vocal critic of FISA abuses, defended the law during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year, describing it as a vital tool for national security.