FBI director considering having UFC train agents in martial arts, say people familiar with plan

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -FBI Director Kash Patel is considering bringing in trainers from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to beef up agents' martial arts and self-defense skills, according to four people familiar with the plan laid out on a call this week with FBI field offices.

The newly appointed director discussed the idea during his first video conference call with the bureau's 55 field office supervisors on Wednesday, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the call's contents because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Two people briefed on the matter said current FBI agents described the idea as "surreal" and "wacky."

The FBI declined to comment.

President Donald Trump is a fan of the sport, mixed martial arts bouts that pit two competitors against each other in a cage, and notably attended a UFC event in New York days after his November election victory, sitting with UFC President Dana White, who he counts as a close friend.

A UFC official said the UFC is "not aware of any information regarding UFC and FBI training."

During the call, Patel said that Dan Bongino, a far-right podcaster whom Trump tapped to be the FBI's deputy director, is a huge UFC fan and that he inspired Patel to try the training, one of the people briefed on the call said. Patel added that he thinks it is great, and is exploring a partnership between the FBI and the UFC.

"There is training the FBI receives in physical altercations. If Kash Patel believed that should be beefed up, the answer is not to go to Donald Trump's best friend who runs the UFC," a former Justice Department official said, when asked about Patel's proposal.

"It's clearly motivated by the glitz and glamour show, and Trump's friend," said the official, who was granted anonymity out of concern about possible retribution.

It was not immediately clear how any partnership would work.

Patel has rattled the bureau since he was sworn in last week. One of his first acts was to call for some 1,500 FBI employees to be transferred from Washington to field offices around the country and an FBI office in Huntsville, Alabama. 

Patel telegraphed his plans to shake up the FBI's operations in his book "Government Gangsters," in which he called for moving headquarters out of Washington, D.C., and curbing the historical practice of requiring FBI agents who wish to serve in supervisory roles from doing 18-month stints at headquarters to gain experience.

During Wednesday's nationwide call with field offices, Patel reiterated his commitment to scaling back staffing at headquarters and re-distributing people into the field, two people familiar with the call said. 

He also said Bongino will begin visiting field offices immediately after he starts his new job in mid-March, one of the people added.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)