Kash Patel's Most Wanted Boasts Derided by FBI Agents

Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Reuters Kash Patel’s boasts about his record of capturing fugitives on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list have been ridiculed as “bulls--t” by current and former bureau officials.

Patel’s bureau took another victory lap last week over the capture of alleged Tren de Aragua leader Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, hailing him as the 10th Top Ten fugitive caught since Donald Trump returned to office—2.5 times as many as were apprehended under Joe Biden.

While Patel, 46, has repeatedly touted his tally as proof of vastly improved performance, MS NOW has reported that FBI officials accused the bureau of “gaming the system” by adding fugitives to the famous list when their capture was imminent.

Analysis for the Daily Beast by its sister investigations Substack, PunchUp , suggests a striking pattern.

The FBI says it has captured eight Top Ten fugitives since Patel took charge in February 2025, compared with four during Biden’s presidency.

Those eight spent a median of 37.5 days on the list before capture.

Among the seven fugitives both added and captured since Patel became director, the median was just 24 days.

For those apprehended under Biden, it was 482 days.

The quickest anyone went from being added to the list to being arrested under Biden was 105 days.

Under Patel, two fugitives were captured within roughly a day.

Another was nabbed in Mexico just 73 minutes after being added.

While the findings do not prove Patel’s FBI manipulated the list, former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi said the data “speaks for itself.” He added: “The compressed time between placement on the list and capture smells like a strategy to game the system in favor of quick stats.” Daniel Brunner, a retired FBI supervisory special agent who worked the capture of a Ten Most Wanted fugitive, was more scathing.

“They just put them up right when they are about to capture them, when they are closing in or doing surveillance,” he alleged.

“People don’t look into the story—they just want to see the claim: ‘Hey, we caught the Ten Most Wanted.’ Then they have moved on to the next Instagram reel.” Brunner accused Patel of playing “the stat game,” adding: “It’s hogwash.” A serving FBI official, speaking anonymously, said of Patel’s approach: “This kind of Soviet ‘operations as propaganda’ bulls--t started like day one and has been a constant.” The FBI strongly rejected the criticism, saying the Ten Most Wanted selection process and criteria have not changed in the list’s 76-year history.