FBI demotes two senior counterterrorism officials in Washington

The FBI has demoted two senior counterterrorism officials in Washington and reassigned them to bureau headquarters amid dissatisfaction over their handling of an investigation into allegedly threatening phone calls targeting Katie Miller, the wife of senior White House aide Stephen Miller, Bloomberg Law reported, citing three people.

Michael Burgwald, special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s counterterrorism division, and his deputy, Courtland Rae, were moved from their positions on Friday. The division is responsible for investigating threats linked to the Middle East. The officials were reassigned following concerns within the bureau over the pace of the investigation into allegedly harassing phone messages left for Katie Miller.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the Miller family had never met or interacted with Burgwald or Rae. “Senior leadership at the FBI determined they were stifling investigations into very serious threats and made a unilateral decision to remove them,” Bis said in a statement to the outlet. FBI Director Kash Patel was also unhappy with the Washington office’s handling of the investigation.

The bureau’s Washington chief, Darren Cox, however, denied that Patel ordered the move. “Director Patel did not order this decision,” Cox said in a statement posted on the FBI’s official “Rapid Response” account. “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.”

Burgwald and Rae were not dismissed from the FBI but were removed from their leadership positions and transferred to bureau headquarters. Burgwald is a West Point graduate who has held senior law enforcement positions and received attorney general’s awards during his career. Rae has also held high-profile posts and previously supervised the FBI’s response to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Former law enforcement officials said the reassignments remove decades of counterterrorism experience from a Washington office involved in investigations of violent extremism.

The Miller family moved from their Arlington home into military housing last autumn while law enforcement investigated protest activity targeting the family. The family considered the activity to include criminal threats. Bis rejected the suggestion that the move was simply a response to protests. “The Millers did not relocate because of protests,” Bis said. “There was an elaborate, well-documented stalking, doxing and threat campaign targeting the Millers’ residence.” The FBI's action follows the dispute over how the investigation into the alleged threats was handled, with White House officials saying the case was being stifled while the bureau's Washington leadership maintains that the personnel decision was made independently at the field office level.