FBI leadership has removed two counterterrorism officials due to dissatisfaction with their investigation into allegedly threatening phone calls made to Katie Miller, the wife of senior White House aide Stephen Miller, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The head of the FBI Washington Field Office’s counterterrorism division and his deputy were demoted and reassigned to bureau headquarters on Friday. The decision was reportedly influenced by frustration from the Miller family regarding the perceived slow progress of the investigation into harassing phone messages left for Katie Miller, as stated by the sources who spoke anonymously to avoid retaliation.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis stated that while the Miller family had never interacted with the ousted FBI officials, “Senior leadership at the FBI determined they were stifling investigations into very serious threats and made a unilateral decision to remove them.” Several sources indicated that FBI Director Kash Patel was also dissatisfied with the office’s progress on the case.
Cox, the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, clarified in a statement, “Director Patel did not order this decision. This was a personnel decision made at the Washington field office level alone based on our constant evaluation of mission needs. Any suggestion otherwise is false.”
Special Agent in Charge Michael Burgwald and Assistant SAC Courtland Rae were not terminated, unlike several other FBI officials and agents who faced consequences for their actions related to Patel. However, their reassignments signify a loss of decades of counterterrorism experience during a critical period for U.S. efforts against violent extremism, according to former law enforcement officials. Both Burgwald and Rae have received attorney general’s awards for their service in high-profile roles, including Rae’s supervision of the FBI’s response to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
Attempts to contact Burgwald and Rae were unsuccessful. The Millers and their children relocated from their Arlington home to military housing last fall while law enforcement investigated protest activities targeting the family, which they considered criminal threats. Bis stated, “The Millers did not relocate because of protests. There was an elaborate, well-documented stalking, doxing and threat campaign targeting the Millers’ residence.”