President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, stated that the U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six spent only 60 seconds rescuing an American citizen who had been held hostage in northern Nigeria.
Mr. Patel made this statement during his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate on January 30, 2025.
During the hearing, he was questioned about his role in the covert operation to rescue Philip Walton, a 27-year-old son of American missionaries who had been kidnapped by armed bandits from neighboring Niger and taken to northern Nigeria for ransom.
“The operation lasted for 60 seconds,” Mr. Patel told Congress on Thursday.
He also faced scrutiny over allegations that he falsely claimed the Nigerian government had granted American SEAL Team Six clearance to use Nigerian airspace. Mr. Patel was the mastermind behind the rescue mission, having gathered intelligence on Mr. Walton’s location.
He saw an opportunity for SEAL Team Six to act before the kidnappers could move Mr. Walton to a new location.
However, while the aircraft carrying the SEALs was already airborne, U.S. officials discovered that the Nigerian government had not yet approved the mission, meaning the SEALs lacked clearance to enter Nigerian airspace or land.
In his memoir, former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper described this as one of Mr. Patel’s many blunders and expressed deep concern that the SEALs could have been shot down due to the unauthorized mission.
“I was concerned that being packed in an aircraft burning holes in the sky for an extra hour or so would wear on the special operators, that it might affect their readiness somehow,” ABC cited Mr Esper’s memoir recounting the op.
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Mr. Esper stated that the SEALs suspected Mr. Patel had fabricated the clearance he claimed was granted by the Nigerian government.
“My team suspected Patel made the approval story up, but they didn’t have all the facts,” Mr Esper wrote.
In his book Government Gangsters, Mr. Patel denied the allegations, claiming that certain individuals attempted to undermine the president’s agenda by creating obstacles to counterterrorism missions in Africa and the Middle East.
The operation ultimately succeeded after the American State Department intervened and swiftly secured airspace clearance from the Nigerian authorities before the Navy SEALs landed.
Mr. Patel has faced strong opposition in his bid to become FBI director, and it remains unclear whether his responses during the hearing were satisfactory.#American
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