September 28, 2026 · Personnel, Competence & Administrative Failure
· Personnel action
Well supported
FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey Resigns After Just Over a Year
Andrew Bailey, who joined the FBI a year ago in the unusual position of "co-deputy director" alongside Dan Bongino, announced on September 28, 2026, that he is leaving the bureau. An internal FBI email said Bailey was departing for family reasons and would return to Missouri, where he had served as state attorney general before resigning to join the FBI in September 2025. His departure leaves Bongino as the bureau's sole deputy director, restoring the position to its traditional single-occupant structure.
Bailey's appointment was unusual from the start: the FBI has traditionally had only one deputy director, and pairing an outside political appointee with Bongino was widely read as an attempt to place an additional political loyalist inside the bureau's leadership alongside Director Kash Patel. His exit after just over a year adds to a pattern of high turnover among senior FBI and Justice Department leadership.
No successor to the co-deputy role has been announced.
Bailey's appointment was unusual from the start: the FBI has traditionally had only one deputy director, and pairing an outside political appointee with Bongino was widely read as an attempt to place an additional political loyalist inside the bureau's leadership alongside Director Kash Patel. His exit after just over a year adds to a pattern of high turnover among senior FBI and Justice Department leadership.
No successor to the co-deputy role has been announced.
Sources
- Andrew Bailey, who joined FBI in unusual 'co-deputy' position, to leave bureau — NBC News, 2026-09-28
- FBI co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey departs post after one year — Washington Times, 2026-09-28 Supporting