In a shocking new opinion piece published by Fox News, a former special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailed why she recently left the agency.
Nicole Parker worked on the top floor of the World Financial Center in New York City when the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, unfolded.
While she and her colleagues at Merrill Lynch safely evacuated, they witnessed the destruction and terror that day up close.
Soon after, Parker “vowed to God” that she would “give back and serve” her country. She did so by leaving her job in finance and applying to become a special agent within the FBI.
Of the nearly 45,000 new applications for the position of special agent that year, Parker succeeded in making the cut. After her training, she was assigned to the FBI field office in Miami.
Parker reflected on her early years with the FBI fondly, recalling her work on multiple high-profile shooting incidents, including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, as well as her work investigating Ponzi schemes, bank robberies, murders for hire, and more.
However, according to Parker, during the course of her career, the “FBI’s trajectory transformed.”
“On paper,” the FBI’s “mission remained the same,” Parker said, but its “priorities and governing principles shifted dramatically.”
Parker put it plainly:
“The FBI became politically weaponized, starting from the top in Washington and trickling down to the field offices.”
She particularly lamented the behavior — and subsequent reaction by the FBI’s leadership — of agents during a June 2020 protest.
After the murder of George Floyd roiled the nation, protests broke out in major cities across the United States, including the nation’s capital.
Parker claimed that images of FBI agents on official duty — wearing FBI-marked ballistic vests — kneeling before the protestors went viral.
Acknowledging that every American has free speech rights, Parker nevertheless condemned the agents for lending “political support” to protestors while on duty and in uniform.
However, what upset Parker even more, was how the FBI treated the agents afterward. She claimed no reprimands were issued, and many of them soon received “highly sought-after promotions” from the agency.
The agents that kneeled even received substantial gifts from the FBI Agents Association, a non-profit support and advocacy organization focused on the welfare of active duty and retired agents.
Parker said the handling of the kneelers was “upsetting” to agents across the nation who struggled with their peers endorsing political protests while on duty and their subsequent treatment as “heroes” by FBI management.
While Parker said the majority of agents uphold their oaths and act with integrity and fairness, “two FBIs” have arisen in her time there.
She claimed the effects of this division within the agency have had a staggering impact on its performance.
“As a result, teams are less cohesive, less trusting of each other, and less safe,” Parker wrote. “For many, becoming a special agent was their calling in life, but now it’s merely an extremely high-risk job with minimal contentment.”
She continued, “Wary of the consequences that come with voicing their displeasure, these agents keep their heads low, work hard, stay off the radar, and count down the days until they collect their well-deserved pension.”
For Parker, however, it all became too much. She knew it was her time to step away.
“I love the FBI I joined,” she recounted. “And while I sincerely pray for the FBI’s future success, the FBI’s troubles of late are bigger than anything I could change.”
The FBI has not issued a response to the op-ed by Parker at this time.
