The Standing

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

    FBI fires five analysts who worked on withdrawn 2023 'Richmond memo'

    On June 5, 2026, the FBI fired five employees — four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst — who were involved in creating the withdrawn 2023 "Richmond memo" on "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" ideology, a document long targeted by President Trump's allies. An internal FBI review and a DOJ inspector general review had both previously found no malicious intent and no discriminatory conduct, and the employees had already been admonished, with corrective process changes adopted. Their lawyer called the firings "manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts."

    Jurisdiction
    federal
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Abuses documented

    Actors

    • Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • Kash Patel (FBI Director)

    On June 5, 2026, the FBI fired at least five employees — four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst — who were involved in creating the January 2023 intelligence product known as the "Richmond memo," which examined potential links between "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" ideology and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists. The memo, produced by the FBI's Richmond, Virginia field office, was quickly withdrawn after it became public and became a persistent flashpoint for President Trump's allies, who cited it as evidence of FBI bias against conservative Christians. The FBI declined to comment on the firings.

    The employees had already been through two completed reviews. An internal FBI investigation, conducted while Chris Wray was director, found no evidence of malicious intent, though it concluded the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards; the employees involved were admonished and the bureau adopted corrective approval processes for intelligence products. A separate review by the Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that anyone ordered or directed the analysts to link violent extremism to religion, and no evidence of discriminatory or inappropriate comments. The memo was nonetheless featured this year in a report by the administration's Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, created by executive order.

    The firings extend a pattern of removals under FBI Director Kash Patel of personnel involved in matters opposed by the administration — including everyone involved in the Mar-a-Lago classified-documents and 2020-election prosecutions of the president, and Justice Department prosecutors who worked on FACE Act cases. David Laufman, the lawyer for the fired employees, said the action "is manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and subverts standard FBI policy and procedure," adding that the employees "deserved far better for the exceptional and faithful public service they rendered."

    Why we recorded this

    Civil-service rules and post-Watergate practice insulate FBI employees from punishment driven by political grievance: discipline is supposed to follow facts and procedure, not the preferences of a president's allies. These analysts had already been reviewed twice — by the FBI itself and by the Justice Department's inspector general — and neither review found malicious intent or discriminatory conduct; the employees were admonished and the bureau adopted corrective processes. Firing them three years later, after their withdrawn memo became a rallying point for the president's allies, re-punishes settled conduct on political grounds. When personnel decisions at the nation's chief law-enforcement agency track political loyalty rather than documented findings, employees learn that survival depends on avoiding any work a future administration might resent — eroding the independence federal law enforcement depends on.

    Sources

    1. FBI fires analysts who worked on "Richmond memo" about Catholic extremist ideology, sources say — CBS News primary accessed June 7, 2026
    2. FBI fires several analysts tied to disputed 'Catholic ideology' memo — Associated Press (via NewsNation) primary accessed June 7, 2026
    3. FBI fires analysts behind controversial memo on 'radical Catholic ideology' — MS Now secondary accessed June 7, 2026
    4. FBI fires several analysts tied to disputed 'Catholic ideology' memo — The Guardian secondary accessed June 7, 2026
    5. DOJ OIG letter finding no evidence analysts were directed to link extremism to religion (April 18, 2024) — U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General primary accessed June 7, 2026

    See also