For weeks, the Trump administration has targeted the F.B.I. as agents waited for the arrival of their new director, Kash Patel, who has spent years bashing the bureau for its investigations into President Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
So top agents around the country and others eagerly awaited a videoconference call on Wednesday with Mr. Patel wondering what he would say after weeks of chaos and fear have gripped the F.B.I.
Reactions were mixed, according to a half dozen people familiar with the details of the call.
Mr. Patel covered a whirlwind of topics in about 30 minutes. Some were expected. He said his priorities included crushing violent crime and defending America’s national security. He complained about leaks to the news media, a tradition among F.B.I. directors.
The call — usually reserved for the most serious of topics — was also surprising in many ways, the people said. For starters, Mr. Patel disregarded his briefing book for the call, a staple for any serious meeting in Washington, and said he did not like to read them. He also said he was not big on meetings or wearing suits.
It was not immediately clear if he would continue to schedule the Wednesday calls with the same frequency, which Christopher A. Wray, his predecessor, inherited from James B. Comey, whom Mr. Trump fired in 2017. Mr. Wray stepped down on Jan. 20 rather than be fired.
At one point in the call, Mr. Patel stepped away, leaving Robert C. Kissane, his acting deputy, and Jodi Cohen, the acting No. 3, to fill the time.
