By FBI Director Kash Patel has fired at least five intelligence analysts connected to a controversial 2023 memorandum that examined whether white supremacists and other extremists could recruit Catholics who attend traditional churches, according to people familiar with the matter.
The analysts worked in the FBI’s Richmond field office, where the document originated. The dismissals mark the latest fallout from a memo that became a major flashpoint in the debate over the politicization of federal law enforcement during the Biden administration.
The document was titled, “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”
It suggested that the FBI could explore “new avenues for tripwire and source development” within certain Catholic congregations. The memo also relied in part on information from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing organization that tracks extremist groups and is now fighting a high-profile federal fraud indictment.
The FBI did not immediately comment on the firings.
The Richmond memo first became public in February 2023 after it was obtained by former FBI special agent and whistleblower Kyle Seraphin. As New Conservative Post reported at the time, the document raised concerns that federal law enforcement officials were considering using informants inside Catholic churches to monitor worshippers who preferred the traditional Latin Mass.
The controversy intensified two months later when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan revealed internal FBI documents discussing “new avenues for tripwire and source development” and the possible use of church leaders and clergy as sources of information.
“The documents produced to date show how the FBI sought to enlist Catholic houses of worship as potential sources to monitor and report on their parishioners,” Jordan wrote at the time.
“Americans attend church to worship and congregate for their spiritual and personal betterment,” he added. “They must be free to exercise their fundamental First Amendment rights without worrying that the FBI may have planted so-called ‘tripwire’ sources or other informants in their houses of worship.”
Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered the memo withdrawn after it became public. He later told Congress that it did not meet the bureau’s standards. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said he was “appalled” by the document and denied that the Justice Department had adopted a policy of discriminating against Catholics.
A Justice Department inspector general review released in 2024 found no evidence that the analysts acted with malicious intent or an improper purpose. But the watchdog identified serious errors in professional judgment and analytical tradecraft.
According to the inspector general, the memo lacked sufficient evidence to establish a relationship between racially motivated violent extremists and so-called “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology. The review also found that the document improperly conflated the religious views of certain individuals with their extremist activities, creating the appearance that the FBI had used religious beliefs as a basis for investigative activity.
The memo grew out of an investigation into a specific Virginia suspect who had advocated violence, expressed racist and antisemitic views and discussed building weapons. The suspect had begun attending a church associated with a traditionalist Catholic organization that is not considered by the Vatican to be in full communion with the Catholic Church.
The inspector general found that the FBI placed a confidential human source inside the church to monitor that individual, who was considered a serious potential threat. The source was instructed to report on the suspect rather than the congregation generally.
But the Richmond memo went further by suggesting that the FBI explore broader opportunities to develop sources and collect information within certain Catholic communities. That proposal alarmed religious-liberty advocates and Republican lawmakers, who argued that the bureau had crossed a constitutional line.
The House Judiciary Committee released a report in December 2023 titled, “The FBI’s breach of religious freedom: The weaponization of law enforcement against Catholic Americans.”
The controversy widened again in 2025, when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley released records indicating that the memo had been accessible to more than 1,000 FBI employees. Grassley also said the bureau had produced additional documents using similar terminology and had relied too heavily on information from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The SPLC was indicted in April on federal charges including wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. Prosecutors allege the organization misled donors about payments made through a network of informants inside extremist groups. Essentially the group was funding the extremism they claimed they were fighting against.
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The Justice Department just secured a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, and it reveals some new bombshells
🧵1/20https://t.co/uRCbnWaBzr pic.twitter.com/AxORRKq7MC
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) June 3, 2026
The firing of the FBI analysts comes as Patel continues to reshape the bureau and respond to years of Republican criticism that the agency allowed political considerations to influence its intelligence assessments and investigative priorities.
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