FBI Purge Over Anti-Catholic Memo

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has fired five analysts who produced a 2023 intelligence memo targeting traditionalist Catholics as potential extremists — and the investigators found that nobody told them to do it.

Story Snapshot

FBI Director Kash Patel fired five analysts connected to the controversial 2023 Richmond memo that linked traditionalist Catholics to violent extremism.
An internal FBI review found the memo failed to meet professional standards and contained errors in judgment, leading to corrective actions bureau-wide.
A Justice Department inspector general review found no evidence that any superior directed analysts to find religious linkages — meaning the framing came from the analysts themselves.
The internal review found no malicious intent, but the firings signal the Trump administration’s commitment to holding federal employees accountable for targeting Americans based on religious identity.

FBI Fires Five Over Anti-Catholic Intelligence Memo

The FBI fired at least five analysts involved in creating the now-withdrawn 2023 Richmond memo, which attempted to link traditionalist Catholic ideology to violent extremism. An internal FBI review concluded the memo “failed to adhere to proper standards and contained some errors in professional judgment.” The bureau withdrew the memo under then-Director Chris Wray, but the personnel consequences did not arrive until Director Kash Patel took the reins under the Trump administration.

The firings represent a significant accountability moment for an agency that has spent years under fire for perceived political bias. For millions of American Catholics and conservatives who watched federal law enforcement treat their faith community as a security threat, the dismissals signal that the “just following orders” defense carries no weight when analysts voluntarily target religious Americans without direction from above.

No Orders From Above — Analysts Made Their Own Choices

A Justice Department inspector general review found no evidence that anyone ordered or directed the analysts to find linkages between violent extremists and certain religions. That finding is critical. It eliminates the institutional-directive excuse and places responsibility squarely on the individuals who chose to frame traditionalist Catholics as a threat category. The internal review also found no evidence that the analysts made discriminatory or inappropriate comments, narrowing the official finding to professional-judgment failures rather than proven animus.

The memo reportedly relied in part on material from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization frequently criticized by conservatives for labeling mainstream religious and conservative groups as hate organizations. That sourcing choice — made by the analysts themselves without apparent direction — raises legitimate questions about the ideological lens being applied inside the FBI’s Richmond field office when assessing domestic security threats tied to religious practice.

Accountability That Should Have Come Sooner

The 2023 Richmond memo caused immediate outrage when it became public, prompting congressional inquiries and demands for answers. The FBI withdrew the document and conducted an internal review, but meaningful personnel consequences waited until the Trump administration installed new leadership. FBI Director Kash Patel has moved aggressively to hold bureau employees accountable for conduct that previous leadership allowed to go largely unpunished, including firings tied to the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search.

FBI fires 5 employees tied to controversial 2023 memo on traditionalist Catholics

The FBI has reportedly fired five employees connected with a controversial 2023 intelligence memo that tied white supremacist extremist ideology to traditionalist Catholic communities.

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— Feisty-n-Friends (@FriendsFeisty) June 6, 2026

The pattern matters. When federal law enforcement analysts can produce a document framing Catholic Mass attendance and Latin liturgy as markers of potential extremism — without being directed to do so — and face no serious consequences for years, it reflects a cultural problem inside the agency. The firings do not resolve every question about how the memo was produced, approved, and disseminated, but they establish that professional misconduct targeting Americans for their religious beliefs will no longer be treated as a minor procedural hiccup. For conservatives who have watched the FBI’s credibility erode through years of politically charged decisions, accountability — however delayed — is a necessary first step toward restoring trust in federal law enforcement.