FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this month fired the FBI agent overseeing the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), which in turn oversees the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) that sent Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) a memo advising against the release of “legacy tokens” after a lawsuit was filed seeking the the manifesto left by the transgender-identified shooter, Audrey Hale, who killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.
The firing of former FBI agent Steven Palmer was first reported by Bloomberg Law on November 1, when the outlet claimed the 27-year employee of the FBI drew the director’s ire because of his additional role overseeing the agency’s aviation units.
At the time of Palmer’s firing, Patel had recently drawn headlines after flying on an FBI plane for personal reasons.
Potentially casting doubt on this being the reason for Palmer’s dismissal, White House policy established under the Obama administration requires the head of the FBI to fly on government jets, and Bloomberg reported its sources were “baffled” that the director would blame Palmer for the negative headlines.
The outlet also revealed that Palmer is the third person in leadership over the CIRG to leave their position under Patel’s tenure.
Others include former FBI Agent Wes Wheeler, who Bloomberg reported was asked to resign from his position as head of CIRG earlier this year, and former senior official Brian Driscoll, who was overseeing CIRG’s operations prior to being fired in August for reportedly attempting to protect agents who participated in the Biden-era dragnet of Republicans who attended the protests in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.
Driscoll had only been in the position for about five months, following Wheeler’s departure, when he was terminated.
While Wheeler led the CIRG through the transition from former President Joe Biden’s government to the Trump administration, it was led by former FBI Agent Paul Haertel in May 2023, when the memo was sent by BAU-1 to MNPD under CIRG’s supervision.
Haertel was promoted to lead CIRG in February 2021, and left the FBI in May 2024.
Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, as well as Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick leahy, sued Metro Nashville to obtain the manifesto in May 2023.
While the lawsuit remains ongoing, it was during the same month in 2023 when BAU-1 sent its unsigned memo to MNPD Chief John Drake, warning that releasing “legacy tokens” left by mass killers could lead to “unintended consequences,” including the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation.
A copy of the memo was legally obtained by The Star in June 2024, when it also received a series of police investigative documents related to the Covenant case, and the killer’s final journal, which The Star published in full last year.
The memo, “opines that responsible authorities need to take every measure possible to limit the capability of future offenders that are considering,” mass shootings, and “strongly” discouraged the “public dissemination of any legacy tokens,” which the FBI defines as any, “communication prepared by the offender to claim credit for the attack and articulate the motives underlying the shooting.”
After urging MNPD not to release “legacy tokens,” the memo raised the precedent for their destruction, noting that a number of video tapes recovered after the 1999 Columbine High School attack were permanently destroyed to prevent a future release.
Leahy and SNDM additionally sued the FBI to compel the agency to release the memo, but under Patel’s leadership the case was settled, with the FBI agreeing to release redacted versions of the killer’s writings. About half of the killer’s writings have been released so far.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
