Andrew Bailey departure is about going home to Missouri, the outgoing FBI co-deputy director said, pushing back on speculation that internal strife at the bureau prompted his exit.
“This was 100% about my need to get home and raise my four small children,” Bailey said in an interview. He announced Monday that he will leave the FBI after just over a year in the role and rejected claims that problems at the bureau played any part in the decision. “My decision to go home is based solely upon my need to be a parent to my four children,” he said.
Bailey criticized outlets that suggested otherwise and defended FBI Director Kash Patel as the bureau’s leadership faces scrutiny. He said accusations that Patel is focused on anything other than public safety are false and described leadership working long hours to meet the mission.
Andrew Bailey departure and Patel’s response
Patel said Monday that Bailey is returning to his family in Missouri and praised his role in the bureau’s overhaul. “Andrew’s leadership at the FBI will be missed but we are grateful he answered the call to serve,” Patel wrote, crediting Bailey with helping implement reforms and thanking him for his dedication to the mission.
Bailey left his position as Missouri attorney general to join the bureau in 2025. Asked whether aspects of the job influenced the timing of his exit, he said they did not. He noted that protecting children was central to his work in Missouri and remained a priority at the FBI.
Child protection and victim services
According to Bailey, the bureau added 55 agents to child protection efforts and expanded the number of victim service providers across field offices nationwide. During field office reviews, he said he pressed teams on meeting “moral and legal” obligations for victim notification and quality care, calling the FBI’s victim services program top notch.
Reforms and results under current leadership
Bailey described his time in Washington as part of a historic transformation of federal law enforcement under President Donald Trump and Patel. He credited the creation of homeland security task forces and the designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations with aiding the FBI’s mission. He said the bureau made it easier for state, tribal and local officers to join task forces, adding more than 2,000 task force officers in a year.
He highlighted what he described as a 20% decline in homicides, more than 5,000 violent offenders arrested by the FBI, and thousands of child victims identified and rescued as signs the approach is working. He also cited seizures of 3,258 kilograms of fentanyl in one year and more than 4,200 members of foreign terrorist organizations arrested. He said 11,000 child victims had been located and identified, without specifying a time period for some of the figures.
Shifting resources to the field
Bailey emphasized the scale of the FBI, with about 38,000 employees and 11,000 armed agents spanning criminal and national security work. He said leadership redirected resources from headquarters to field offices to maximize impact. “We’ve done so much to push resources out of headquarters back to the field where they can maximize their impact,” he said.
He said more than 1,500 positions moved from headquarters to the field, and fewer approval layers now allow agents to follow leads more quickly. According to Bailey, the FBI processed more than 1.8 million DNA samples and reduced its backlog to zero for the first time in bureau history.
Politics and the bureau’s mission
Asked about political considerations, Bailey said protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution are the only priorities. He pointed to staffing and approval changes as ways to protect agents’ ability to follow the facts. He dismissed criticism of Patel’s approach as resistance from those accustomed to the status quo, alleging the bureau had previously been misused against Trump and his family and saying Patel aimed to refocus on core mission.
He dismissed criticism of Patel’s approach as resistance from those accustomed to the status quo, alleging the bureau had previously been misused against Trump and his family and saying Patel aimed to refocus on core mission, similar to how the White House has faced criticism over messaging involving Trump.
What’s next for Bailey
Bailey said he expects to return to public service in the future but did not specify a role. He traced a career from the Army, including two deployments to Iraq, through Missouri state government and the FBI, returning to the reason for leaving now. “I’ve dedicated my life to public service and anticipate that I’ll look to serve again in the future in some capacity,” he said. “But I’m excited right now to get home to the kids and be able to enjoy time with them and their activities.”
