There are loads of jobs that don’t require any previous experience to perform, but deputy director of the FBI is absolutely not among them. That’s a job that requires real skill, tenure in relevant positions, and a close relationship with fellow FBI agents.
Dan Bongino, the man tapped to fill this position, has none of the above. Traditionally, the role of FBI deputy director goes to someone with years of experience in the FBI, but Bongino’s never served the agency. He’s never worked in a relevant field, unless you’re counting his tenure as a Secret Service agent, and he’s already an unpopular pick, but that won’t stop the Trump train from rolling.
Which lands us with a curious and concerning new FBI deputy director. He’s stepping into an incredibly important job — one with both domestic and international responsibilities — but Bongino’s background doesn’t paint a pretty picture. He sure doesn’t seem to be equipped to handle the position, but maybe there’s more to the firebrand podcaster than meets they eye.
Who is Dan Bongino?
Dan Bongino’s name likely isn’t familiar to anyone outside of niche, right-wing circles. But among his audience — which is admittedly quite large — he’s practically a superstar.
The 50-year-old got his start as a police officer, working for the NYPD for four years, between 1995 and 1999. He then shifted to the Secret Service, which he served for a solid decade in various roles, even protecting then-President Barack Obama for several years.
In 2011, he left the service to make a run for the U.S. Senate. He was criticized, at the time, by his fellow agents, many of whom felt he leaned on his time in the Service to add weight to his Senate run, which he ultimately lost. He also lost two subsequent runs, both for the House of Representatives, in 2014 and 2016.
Somewhere in there, Bongino made the shift into entertainment, joining several talk shows — like the Sean Hannity Show — as a guest host, and eventually launching his own. That’s largely what he’s been up to over the last half-decade or so, but it seems those political dreams never died. And when Donald Trump appointed Kash Patel as FBI director, Bongino finally got his shot at joining the political arena — no elections necessary.
Is Dan Bongino qualified to be FBI deputy director?
Dan Bongino is distinctly, inarguably, under-qualified to be FBI deputy director. He’s not even eligible to be an FBI agent, let alone deputy director, and since most historical deputy directors served in the agency before earning a promotion, that’s quite telling.
On the FBI’s website, it lays out some of the requirements for an FBI agent, and those requirements make it clear that “to be eligible for employment,” applicants must have adhered to certain standards ahead of their shift to the FBI. Listed among them is “No engagement with organizations designed to overthrow the U.S. government,” and that, all by itself, may have disqualified Bongino from the role.
Bongino was listed among the top five “superspreaders of election misinformation” by human rights group Avaaz following Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, which Bongino contested. He, like Trump, egged on theories that the election was “stolen,” contributing in part to the 2021 storming of the Capitol.
That’s not the only misinformation Bongino has spread from his platform — his podcast, The Dan Bongino Show, is among the 10 most popular podcasts in the country — but its among the most damaging. He’s also been a vocal opponent of the agency he’s been tapped to help lead, blasting it as “lost, broken” and “irredeemably corrupt,” back in 2022.
In all, Bongino is a typical Trump appointee. He’s an ardent, unabashed supporter of Trump, he’s an election denier, a critic of mask mandates, and he’s claimed that his “entire life right now is about owning the libs.” That certainly seems to have been a success, but it’s yet to be determined whether or not his appointment as FBI deputy director will be similarly successful.
Published: Feb 25, 2025 11:27 am