President-elect Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be the next FBI director, a person with an extensive background in national security and intelligence.

Patel’s experience ranges from personally conducting dangerous missions in the Middle East to bring home U.S. hostages to implementing counterterrorism strategies against America’s most wanted terrorists. Current and former U.S. national security officials and lawmakers say that when one looks at his resume “objectively,” he is “one of the most experienced people ever nominated to lead the office.”

During the first Trump administration, Patel served as Trump’s deputy assistant and senior director for counterterrorism. In this role, Patel was involved in presidential missions aimed at decimate al-Qaeda’s leadership and ISIS’s command and control. Among other things, Patel was involved in planning the mission to eliminate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

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Patel was also involved in efforts to bring some of the most wanted terrorists to the U.S. for prosecution and worked on the Trump administration’s efforts to repatriate dozens of U.S. hostages.

“When I was national security adviser, Kash was my senior director for counterterrorism. “He was responsible for all interagency actions against ISIS, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations,” former White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Fox News Digital. “He was also responsible for hostage rescues and did a great job on both fronts.”

O’Brien recalled Patel’s “tremendous personal courage” regarding Austin Tice, a hostage believed to have been held by the Syrian government for more than 12 years.

In 2020, O’Brien said the Syrians had “finally agreed to let an American in to negotiate, and I asked Kash Patel and Ambassador Roger Carstens if they would join in.”

“I wanted someone from the White House, so it wasn’t just State Department officials. Kash was the White House man,” O’Brien said. “They traveled overland from Beirut to Damascus through areas where Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Hezbollah were present. It was a very complex situation. They drove all the way to Damascus to meet with the head of Assad’s secret service.” .”

O’Brien said the “Syrians themselves could have easily taken Kash and Roger hostage.”

“I’ve never heard Kash talk or tell war stories about this mission to save a fellow American,” O’Brien said.

He added: “I would say to anyone who ignorantly criticizes Kash Patel’s character: tell me when was the last time you did something dangerous to save a stranger.”

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Not everyone shared O’Brien’s rosy portrayal of Patel. Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and others have criticized Trump’s choice of Patel, saying he is unqualified.

But O’Brien and others say these attacks are “entirely politically motivated because of his support for the president’s America First agenda.”

“There was a time when Democrats would have applauded a president for appointing someone with criminal defense experience who opposed the FBI surveilling American citizens — but that was a very different Democratic party,” said O’Brien.

Beyond his counterterrorism work, Patel has been instrumental in U.S. strategy to combat Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean efforts against U.S. interests. He also worked to implement multimillion-dollar sanctions against foreign adversaries.

Victoria Coates, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser and vice president for national security at the Heritage Foundation, said Patel was a “strong colleague” at the National Security Council (NSC) and “understands this critical part of our national security architecture.” .”

“After four years of mismanagement between Biden and Harris, he will be the strong hand the FBI needs to keep the American people safe,” Coates said. “Instead of a director who spends all his time testifying before Congress about all the red lights he sees flashing on the dashboard, we will have one who will do something to actually put them out.”

Before serving as Trump’s deputy and at the NSC, Patel worked in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as principal deputy to acting DNI Ric Grenell and helped former Director John Ratcliffe transition into the role. Trump nominated Ratcliffe to be director of the CIA last month.

At ODNI, Patel also worked to focus intelligence collection on countering drugs and transnational threats.

“Kash brings a lot of passion to public service because he has seen corruption from within,” Grenell said. “He is a first-generation American who understands how elites manipulate the system to maintain power and control over Americans.”

“Reforming Washington and its insular policies requires courage,” Grenell continued. “Those of us outside Washington who want reform must stop expecting reform from those who live and work in Washington. They will never reform themselves.”

Before joining the Trump administration, Patel served as national security adviser and senior counterterrorism counsel on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

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Patel was the lead investigator for the Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. During his investigation, he led efforts to uncover FISA abuses and exposed the FBI and DOJ’s unlawful actions in federal courts to harm Americans, including Members of the 2016 Trump campaign to illegally monitor.

“The best thing about Kash is that he is not fooled by the bureaucracy due to his previous government experience and his key role in uncovering Russiagate.”,” said former Trump White House deputy national security adviser KT McFarland.

“Intelligence community bureaucrats cover up their mistakes and misconduct by hiding behind the excuse of ‘sources and methods.’ They allow declassification efforts and internal investigations to progress slowly. Most appointed officials new to the intelligence bureaucracy fall for this – Kash won’t.”

McFarland said critics of Patel claimed he would “seek revenge,” but she stated those critics were “wrong.”

“Remember that government bureaucrats always leave a written trail of their actions,” she said. “Kash can expose them by releasing these documents and then letting the American people decide whether these nameless, faceless FBI and DOJ bureaucrats have abused their power with a two-tier justice system – prosecuting their political opponents and protecting their allies .”

Patel, an attorney, served as a public defender and national security prosecutor in the Justice Department and tried numerous complex criminal cases. In total, Patel has worked in the US government for 16 years.

His most recent role in the Trump administration was as chief of staff at the Defense Department.

“Kash Patel is the right person for the job,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital.

Jordan said he worked closely with Patel when he was one of then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ top aides.

“He did an outstanding job,” Jordan said.

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And soon on the other side of Capitol Hill, Sen.-elect Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital that Patel is “going to shake up the FBI.”

“He has my support and my vote for confirmation,” Banks said.