(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Director Kashyap Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, is being protected by agents on the bureau’s Nashville SWAT team. According to the New York Times, such measures are costing the taxpayers an estimated $1 million per year.
“A former senior official who has hired such agents said Ms. Wilkins’s Nashville detail — two SUVs and four agents — costs about $1 million a year, with additional overtime, vehicle and other expenses,” the Times reported Friday.
The Times added that FBI officials recommended a threat assessment to see if Wilkins, who doesn’t even live with Patel, really needs that kind of protection. But Patel “berated” them, saying his authority was all that was needed.
The Times reported Friday that security costs for the FBI director’s girlfriend are running at an estimated $1 million per year. https://t.co/PZF0VypJpo pic.twitter.com/KrFVVynSrR
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 17, 2026
An FBI director’s girlfriend has reportedly never received taxpayer funded security before, but bureau spokesman Ben Williamson has said that she needs protection due to threats she’s received.
Critics say the arrangement risks delaying the FBI Nashville office’s response to mass shootings or terror attacks.
The Times also reported Friday that Wilkins accompanied Patel to a closed-door meeting on combating trafficking of fentanyl. The meeting was reportedly hosted by Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., who said he invited Patel. The FBI claimed that Wilkins, who works with a non-profit group that publicizes fentanyl deaths, was invited, too.
In addition, the Times revealed more details of Patel and Wilkins’s use of the FBI jet. Last May, they reportedly traveled from Washington to Philadelphia to see George Strait and Chris Stapleton perform—staying in a private suite that sells for between $35,000 and $50,000.
Patel reportedly declined to comment on who financed that outing.
Patel’s trips have also included seeing Wilkins sing the National Anthem at a wrestling match in Pennsylvania last week, and visiting a hunting resort called Boondoggle Ranch in Texas a week later.
What’s “disingenuous and dumb” is saying that Kashyap pays reimbursement for his flights when he only has to pay commercial fare. The FBI jet costs exponentially more than that. https://t.co/5UGrtvMnih pic.twitter.com/qa8EMQhEzo
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 2, 2025
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson has attempted to downplay his boss’s use of the FBI jet, posting on Twitter/X that Patel is forced to use a government plane even when flying for personal reasons. Williamson also said Patel pays a reimbursement in advance for his flights, as per government rules.
However, Patel is only required to pay the equivalent of commercial fare for his flights. The cost of operating FBI jets is exponentially more than that. For example, a Government Accountability Office report found in 2013 that then-Attorney General Eric Holder paid $420.90 for a flight that cost the taxpayers $15,894.
Republicans, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, frequently railed against former FBI Director Chris Wray’s use of the FBI jet. So did Patel himself.
“I want to ground Chris Wray’s private jet travel that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country,” Patel said in 2023.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
