FBI Director Kash Patel Waived
Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff
As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the
country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His
ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau background check is
unprecedented, insiders say.
by William Turton and Christopher Bing
November 14, 2025, 11:30 am
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FBI
Director Kash Patel granted waivers to Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two
other newly hired senior FBI staff members, exempting them from passing
polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive
classified information, according to a former senior FBI official and several
other government officials.
Bongino’s
role as the FBI’s second-highest-ranking official means he is responsible for
day-to-day operations of the agency, including green-lighting surveillance
missions, coordinating with intelligence agency partners and managing the
bureau’s 56 field offices across the country. The deputy director receives some
of the country’s most closely held secrets, including the President’s Daily
Brief, which also contains intelligence from the CIA and the National Security
Agency.
People
familiar with the matter say his ascent to that position without passing a
standard FBI background check was unprecedented. ProPublica spoke with four
people familiar with the polygraph issues, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of retaliation and because they were not authorized to
publicly discuss the details of FBI background checks.
Bongino
was selected for the role at the FBI although he, like Patel, had no prior
experience at the bureau. Bongino had previously served in the Secret Service
and worked as a New York City police officer. But he later gained millions of
fans and followers in conservative circles for television and podcast
appearances, having taken over Rush Limbaugh’s spot on numerous radio stations.
Over the years, Bongino used those platforms to push conspiracy theories about the 2020
election and professed his allegiance to President Donald Trump while railing
against the agency he now helps lead.
He’s
had a rocky tenure so far, marked by public fights with senior Cabinet
officials and accusations that he leaked information to the press, which
Bongino denied. In August, Trump appointed Missouri Attorney General Andrew
Bailey as co-deputy director at the FBI, setting off speculation that the White
House had lost faith in Bongino. But he remains in the job.
ProPublica
could not determine whether Bongino sat for a polygraph exam or what its
results were. Though the existence of a polygraph waiver is an indication he
may not have passed the test, it is possible Bongino received a preemptive
exemption, a former senior FBI official with knowledge of the vetting program
told ProPublica.
When
ProPublica sought comment from the FBI, the agency denied that Bongino or the
other senior staff members failed polygraph tests. “It is false that
the individuals you referenced failed polygraphs,” wrote spokesperson Ben
Williamson.
He
added: “The FBI follows all laws and procedures on personnel security measures,
and any implication otherwise is false. Furthermore, while the FBI does not
comment on confidential security information, particularly in matters of
personnel, this article is riddled with falsehoods — it misrepresents polygraph
protocol, inaccurately portrays FBI security measures, and makes multiple false
claims about FBI employees who have done nothing wrong.”
ProPublica
asked the FBI to specify what it considered to be false. The agency did not
reply.
A
polygraph exam is not technically pass or fail, but a person is not cleared for
approval if the examiner finds deception or is unable to reach a conclusion
about the veracity of the answers given. Officials said that a person may not
have technically failed the exams; the results could be deemed inconclusive,
which would not meet the FBI’s standards for hiring or security clearances.
The
FBI spokesperson initially said the three officials are so-called Schedule C —
a category reserved for political appointees. He said the status would mean
they were “not required” to undergo polygraphs. But Daniel Meyer, a former
executive director for the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community
External Review Panel, told ProPublica that an FBI employee wouldn’t be
excluded from taking a polygraph exam simply because they’re a Schedule C
employee. Three other lawyers, who specialize in national security matters,
said the same.
In
fact, the FBI’s employment eligibility guidelines say all
employees must obtain a “Top Secret” clearance in order to work at the agency
following a background check. “The preliminary employment requirements include
a polygraph examination,” the guidelines say.
“How Did They Survive?”
Former
FBI officials said they could not recall a single instance in which a senior
official like Bongino received a waiver and was then given a top secret
clearance. One said they were only aware of one waiver being issued in a
seven-year period under Director Christopher Wray, for an outside subject
matter expert whose polygraph results were inconclusive.
Two
other officials, Marshall Yates, the agency’s liaison with Congress, and Nicole
Rucker, Patel’s personal assistant, did not clear their polygraph exam and were
granted waivers by Patel that allowed them to get a high-level security
clearance, said officials with knowledge of the issue. Neither of their roles
is as high-profile as Bongino’s, nor does either one have prior FBI experience.
Polygraph
examiners ask a standard list of questions about drug use, criminal history,
foreign contacts and mishandling of classified information. After the exam, an
analyst scrutinizes the results and decides whether or not they indicate
deception or are inconclusive. Those whose answers are determined to be
inconclusive are given another chance to take the test the following day.
“I
don’t know of anybody in my time that were in those senior roles that failed
polygraphs, and most of us had taken multiple polygraphs,” said Bob Anderson, a
former FBI executive who ran the counterintelligence division and retired in
2016. “If somebody would fail those polygraphs in my time, most likely they
would be removed out of the classified environment until that could get
cleared.”
This
year, an employee within the FBI’s Security Division filed a formal complaint
alleging the waivers violated agency policy. The Security Division conducts
employee polygraph exams and evaluates their results. Its mission is to protect
the FBI from leaks of classified information and infiltration by foreign spies.
The employee filed the complaint with the division director, Robert Turner, a
22-year veteran of the bureau who previously held roles in counterterrorism and
counterespionage.
A
complaint about the waivers was also shared with the Department of Justice’s
Office of the Inspector General, sources said.
According
to her resume, Rucker, 40, has served as an assistant to Stephen Miller, the
powerful architect of the administration’s immigration crackdown, since January
2020.
Rucker
would have detailed insight into day-to-day FBI operations and those meeting
within the director’s office. She also assists in planning Patel’s travel, a
former FBI official familiar with her job responsibilities said.
The
White House said Rucker is not sharing information on the FBI’s operations with
Miller and referred further questions to the bureau and the Department of
Justice.
Meanwhile
Yates, 37, was previously the executive director of the
Election Integrity Network, a group that worked to overturn the results of the
2020 election. Yates, as the top liaison between the bureau
and Congress, has wide visibility into the workforce, including some access to
internal files about past investigations.
Historically,
the job was staffed by a nonpartisan career FBI or Department of Justice
official with deep knowledge of the bureau. Among other tasks, the official
organizes closed-door briefings with lawmakers to discuss active, undisclosed
threats to the country.
While
an FBI spokesperson discussed the polygraph issues with ProPublica, Patel,
Bongino, Yates, Rucker and Turner did not respond to direct requests for
comment.
Sen.
Dick Durbin, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
raised the issue of senior FBI leadership not passing polygraphs — without
identifying any individuals — when Patel testified before the committee in
September.
“As I
understand it from highly credible sources, key members of Director Patel’s
senior executive team and others on the seventh floor had disqualifying alerts
on their initial polygraph exams,” Durbin said. “How did they survive? They
survived because of a personal waiver by either the director or the attorney
general to remain employed by the bureau.”
When
Durbin asked Patel if anyone on his senior executive team received
“disqualifying alerts on their polygraphs,” Patel refused to answer. And when
the senator followed up by asking if he or Attorney General Pam Bondi granted a
waiver, Patel replied, “I have to get back to you.”
The
FBI did not respond to the committee on questions concerning polygraphs,
according to a person familiar with the matter.
Durbin,
in a statement to ProPublica, said, “Reports of disqualifying alerts on
polygraphs by senior FBI officials — which require personal waivers from the
highest levels of leadership to remain employed — are deeply alarming.”
Heart Rate Check
The
polygraph exam uses a device strapped to a subject’s body to measure
physiological responses like heart rate, blood pressure and perspiration as the
person answers yes-or-no questions. Though the device’s efficacy is debated, it
is routinely used in America’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies to
screen potential employees and conduct leak investigations. The FBI first began
requiring the polygraph exam for all applicants in 1994, according to a 2006 report by the Department of Justice’s Office of the
Inspector General.
They
are used as part of a broader background check conducted on all potential FBI
employees to determine if the applicant triggers any national security or
suitability concerns. Suitability refers to a candidate’s criminal history,
drug use or other issues that would prevent them from becoming employees of a
federal law enforcement agency.
FBI
security measures are designed to protect sensitive intelligence sources and
information, and the screening is intended to ensure that officials given
access to this information have cleared a thorough vetting process.
Staff
who work in the director’s office on the seventh floor of the J. Edgar Hoover
Building in Washington must also obtain an additional clearance called SCI, or
sensitive compartmented information.
SCI
contains some of America’s most sensitive intelligence secrets, and employees
with that clearance are “read-in” to various compartments or programs. Bongino,
Yates and Rucker all obtained SCI clearances after being granted the waivers,
people familiar with their clearance level said.
In
addition to bringing on loyalists, the administration has launched a purge of
career FBI staff since January. More than 50 bureau officials have been fired
or pushed out, a ProPublica analysis found. They include executives with
decades of counterterrorism and intelligence experience, as well as line agents
assigned to work on politically sensitive criminal probes, including
investigations into Jan. 6 rioters and Trump.
Patel
has justified these firings under Article II of the Constitution, which
outlines the president’s powers over government — a novel use of the statute
that is being challenged in the courts. Publicly, the administration has
suggested some fired agents were involved in misconduct while investigating
Trump or his allies.
Former
acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll sued Patel, Bondi and the bureau in
September, saying he was subjected to political loyalty tests and illegally
fired. The FBI declined to comment when the suit was filed and federal agencies
have yet to respond in court.
The
FBI has recently used the polygraph to ask senior employees if they have said
anything negative about Patel or had spoken to the media, multiple former FBI
employees said. The New York Times earlier reported the use of polygraphs to
investigate negative comments about Patel.
Destined for Something Greater
A
lawyer by training, Yates has been the point person in responding to inquiries from Senate
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican who for months has been
publishing internal FBI documents, which he contends show improper past
investigations into Trump. According to a former senior FBI official, Yates
called regional bureau field offices early this year to get lists of employees
involved in cases against Trump; several of those agents were later fired by
Patel.
Originally
from Alabama, Yates previously worked as chief of staff for former Rep. Mo
Brooks, R-Ala., and was counsel to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. A Democratic
representative accused Brooks of inciting rioters on
Jan. 6, which Brooks denied; the civil case was later dismissed. Brooks has
described the FBI as “partisan hacks.” Massie wrote on social media this month,
“Capitol Police turned CIA orchestrated the pipe bombs on January 6th, and the
FBI has covered it up.”
Little
is known about Nicole Rucker, who spells her name online as Nikole. Multiple
sources have described Rucker as Patel’s personal assistant. She joined Patel
on a recent foreign trip to London, where she sat in on a sensitive meeting
with a Western intelligence ally, according to a knowledgeable source.
Rucker
arrived at the FBI on Jan. 20 and began working in the director’s suite without
a security clearance, according to a former FBI employee familiar with her
work.
Due to
her initial lack of clearance, Rucker was escorted from the FBI lobby to the
secure director’s suite by Turner, who was then the deputy of the FBI’s
Security Division. Rucker eventually obtained a security clearance and was no
longer escorted, the person said.
Williamson,
the FBI spokesperson, said “people are escorted in similar circumstances all
the time.”
In
May, Rucker’s husband posted a photo on LinkedIn with himself and Rucker
alongside Patel, standing in front of the FBI logo.
On her
resume, she also lists a job working as the executive assistant to the chief of
public affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
from 2018 to 2019. After that, she was a congressional relations liaison at
Ultra Electronics, a British defense contractor.
Rucker
founded Cobblestone Concierge, which offers personal assistant services such as
“home management, organization, errand service and so much more!” according to
her LinkedIn profile. The company’s website says its services include
“household management (including meeting the cable guy).”
ProPublica
interviewed her ex-husband, Joseph Churchville, who said Rucker worked at a
title insurance company while they were married but had always thought she was
destined for something greater. “She’s tenacious. When she acquires something
that she wants, she has the ability to make things happen,” Churchville said.