FBI Deputy Director Bongino breaks Hoover-Colson tradition

One of the FBI’s sacred traditions is that it always must run itself, regardless of who the president appoints as director.  

Its second-in-command must always be an insider product of the apparat itself. That’s why the FBI loved Christopher Wray, because it ran him like an op. 

President Trump broke that tradition by appointing Dan Bongino as Deputy Director.  

The precious tradition is almost a century old, enshrined by the FBI great whom the present Bureau loves to hate, J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI Agents Association – a pressure group that claims to represent “over 90 percent of active FBI agents” plus former agents – says a careerist instead of Bongino would “protect” the Bureau.  

From whom it is protecting is left unstated, but obviously it’s against Director Kash Patel and, more broadly, against Trump’s reforms. 

The FBI Agents Association really wants to “protect” the FBI from the attorney general and the president. 

41 years of total control + Deep Throat + Ruby Ridge + fake Russian collusion lawlessness 

The FBI tradition began in 1930 with J. Edgar Hoover and his best friend and closest aide, Clyde Tolson. Let’s have a look. 

A chronology shows that Deputy Directors as career special agents were among the most in FBI history.  

Tolson’s controversies were directly related to Hoover, for better or for worse. I happen to be a fan of many of Hoover’s and Tolson’s accomplishments, but both were in power for far too long. They operated with no effective oversight. 

Tolson was FBI second-in-command for 41 years. Following Tolson came two years of Mark Felt, who successfully conspired to oust President Nixon after Nixon’s 1972 landslide election.  

Then about five years of calm, followed by no Deputy Director at all between 1978 and 1987, then calm until the Ruby Ridge siege of 1992 for which Deputy Director Potts was later demoted for his conduct. That followed by another 19 years of calm and post-9/11 reorganization and expansion until Andrew McCabe’s appointment under James Comey in 2016.  

Since that time, until Paul Abbate’s resignation on January 20, 2025, the Deputy Director position has been subject to scandal and turmoil. 

List of FBI Deputy Directors 

Before 1971, the second-in-command at FBI was called Associate Director. Deputy Director became the new title that year. So we will use the titles interchangeably. 

Clyde Tolson (Associate Director, 1930-1971). Tolson, Hoover’s long-time right-hand man, was a special agent before taking the Associate Director role. He joined the FBI as a special agent in 1928, then became Associate Director in 1930, a position he would hold for 41 years. 

Mark Felt (Associate Director, 1971-1973). Felt joined the FBI in 1942 as a special agent and succeeded Tolson in the #2 spot under Hoover. Apparently resentful that President Nixon didn’t name him Director when Hoover died in 1972, Felt began leaking to the Washington Post to discredit Nixon and force him out of office after his landslide election. Under the cover name “Deep Throat” (after a pornographic movie), Felt helped turn two Post reporters into superstars and millionaires. He denied any involvement until finally admitting it in 2003. 

William D. Ruckelshaus (Acting Deputy Director, 1973). Ruckelshaus broke the “tradition.” He served briefly as Acting Deputy Director in 1973 during a turbulent period following Hoover’s death, overlapping with his role as Acting FBI Director (April 30, 1973, to July 9, 1973). He was a lawyer and political appointee with no law enforcement or FBI experience.  

James B. Adams (Deputy Director, 1973–1978): James Blackburn Adams began his career in the FBI a special agent.  

No Deputy Director, 1978-87. Here, the FBI records show the Deputy Director position was vacant under Director William H. Webster. Webster split the position among three non-Deputy roles. 

John E. Otto (Acting Deputy Director, 1987). Otto began his FBI career as a special agent. 

Floyd I. Clarke (Deputy Director, 1989-1993). Clarke joined FBI in 1964 as a special agent.  

Larry A. Potts (Deputy Director, 1995). Potts, who started in the FBI as a special agent, was named Deputy Director in February, 1995, but demoted in July amid fallout from his handling in 1992 of the Ruby Ridge siege.  

William J. Esposito (1996–1997). Esposito, a former FBI special agent, was Deputy Director from February 1996 until his retirement in October 1997.  

Robert M. “Bear” Bryant (1997–1999). Bryant succeeded Esposito, serving as Deputy Director from late 1997 until his retirement in November 1999. He started in the FBI as a special agent. 

Thomas J. Pickard (1999–2001). Pickard, also a former special agent, became Deputy Director in November 1999. 

Bruce J. Gebhardt (2001–2002). Gebhardt was a former special agent brought out from retirement to serve as Deputy Director in December 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. He retired again in July 2002. 

John S. Pistole (2004–2010). Pistole, who had been a special agent, was appointed Deputy Director in October 2004 under Director Robert Mueller and served until May 2010, when he left to head the Transportation Security Administration.  

Timothy P. Murphy (2010–2011). Longtime FBI special agent Murphy succeeded Pistole for a short capstone stint from late 2010 until his retirement in August 2011. 

Sean M. Joyce (2011–2013). Joyce began as an FBI special agent and served as Deputy Director from late 2011 to late 2013 under Muller and James Comey.  

Mark F. Giuliano (2013–2016). Comey named former special agent Giuliano in December, 2013. Giuliano retired in February, 2016.  

Andrew McCabe (Deputy Director, 2016-2018). Comey appointed McCabe, a former special agent, in 2016. Together, with Peter Strzok from counterintelligence, they were part of the ring that launched the false Russian collusion narrative against Donald Trump. 

David Bowdich (Deputy Director, 2018-2021). Bowdich began as a special agent in 1995, serving as Deputy Director under Christopher Wray. 

Paul Abbate (Deputy Director, 2021-2025). Abbate joined the FBI in 1996 as a special agent. Wray named him FBI Associate Deputy Director from 2018 to 2021, and Deputy Director in 2021, where he became part of the national scandal involving the January 6 investigations and other abuses. Abbate quit the FBI within minutes of President Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2021. 

Dan Bongino (Deputy Director, 2025- ). Bongino is former New York police officer. After four years in NYPD, he joined the Secret Service to investigate financial crimes. He transferred in 2002 as a Secret Service training academy instructor, then served in the Presidential Protective Division in 2006, on the protective details of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He left the Secret Service in 2011 to become a broadcaster and political commentator, and social media entrepreneur.  

A sharp critic of FBI abuses of power and lower professional standards, Bongino is, to the FBI Special Agents Association and others, unfit to “protect” their special interests.