James Dennehy, head of the FBI’s field office in New York City, reportedly emailed staff members on March 3 to announce that he had been asked to turn in his retirement papers.
“I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did,” Dennehy stated in the email, which was obtained by multiple news outlets. “I was not given a reason for this decision.”
After writing a top 10 list of things he said he would miss about the FBI, he wrote: “I will never stop defending this joint. I'll just do it willingly and proudly from outside the wire.”
Dennehy served in the U.S. Marine Corps for seven years before joining the FBI as a special agent in 2002. In September 2024, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray named him assistant director in the field office in New York City.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have criticized Dennehy’s forced retirement and accused the Trump administration of weaponizing the bureau.
On Jan. 31, the Justice Department directed the FBI to provide the names of all personnel involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach investigation. Dennehy reportedly resisted this directive.
The Epoch Times reached out to the FBI for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Dennehy’s retirement email came just days after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi urged new FBI Director Kash Patel to launch an investigation into allegations that the FBI field office in New York City was withholding documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
