FBI Director Kash Patel is ready to make a big claim. He says the bureau stopped violent crime at a record pace. This news comes from his notes for a Senate hearing. The hearing looks at how the agency has changed. Patel says strong support helped rebuild the FBI. He argues the bureau can now stop threats early.
The numbers show a clear change in law enforcement. The national murder rate fell by twenty percent recently. This drop happened over the last eighteen months. Arrests for violent crime jumped by ninety percent at the same time. Gang member arrests rose by thirty percent as well. These figures come from the FBI crime reports. Patel credits the current administration for this shift.
Patel also pointed to success in stopping terror plots. The FBI stopped an attack near Pittsburgh this weekend. A suspect allegedly indicated plans to carry out a violent attack for ISIS. About one thousand people were stopped from attacking. More than four thousand arrests linked to foreign groups. These efforts kept major events safe from harm. The 2026 FIFA World Cup stayed secure and safe. UFC 250 also passed without major security issues.
Catching fugitives has become much faster under Patel. The bureau caught Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre in Venezuela. He is the tenth most wanted fugitive caught recently. This rate is more than double the previous years. Officials allege he has ties to the Sinaloa cartel.
Drug and child safety work saw huge activity too. The FBI seized over three thousand kilograms of fentanyl. Agents found about eleven thousand child victims in cases. They arrested more than five thousand predators and traffickers. These actions show a strategy of strict enforcement. Patel says the agency used new tools to help. Technology now plays a bigger role in operations.
Internal changes altered how the bureau uses its money. Patel said the FBI cleared a huge lab backlog. This pile of samples had sat for years. As of last month, that backlog is now zero. The agency saved more than three hundred million dollars. They moved over one thousand agents to field offices. A new office opened in Billings, Montana, recently.
The use of artificial intelligence grew by 605 percent. This jump helped speed up threat detection and work. Patel argues that cutting bureaucracy made things faster. The focus is now on results instead of paperwork. The data shows a clear shift in agency goals. Lawmakers will hear these details in Tuesday’s hearing.