The top FBI agent in New York was ousted Monday, saying he wasn’t given any explanation for the decision from Washington.
James Dennehy, a US Marine Corps veteran who joined the bureau after the Sept. 11 attacks, announced his forced resignation in a letter to staffers at the FBI’s New York Field Office.
“Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did. I was not given a reason for this decision,” he wrote in the missive, obtained by The Post.
Dennehy apologized for the abruptness of his resignation in the letter, in which he called his colleagues “an office of professionals who will always do the right thing for the right reasons.”
His final note to staffers included one of his signature “top 10” lists, this one rattling off the things he’ll miss about working for the FBI, among them, “the independence,” he wrote, adding the timely messaging, “We will not bend. We will not falter. We will not sacrifice what is right for anything or anyone.”
His departure marks the latest in a recent exodus from the bureau under the Trump administration.
Dennehy had a high-profile battle with acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove last month, penning a defiant email to staffers urging them to “dig in” after officials tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol were forced out of their roles.
“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” the email read in part.
Dennehy joined the FBI as a special agent in 2002, where he was assigned to counterintelligence cases in the NY field office. Over his storied career, he received numerous promotions, including in 2018 when he was named chief of staff to the executive assistant director of the National Security Branch at FBI headquarters.
There, he was charged with overseeing counterterrorism, counterintelligence and weapons of mass destruction.
In 2022, he was appointed Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office, where his priorities included cybercrime, health care fraud, civil rights violations, cybercrime and reducing shootings in coordination with law enforcement.
“I’ve been told many times in my life, ‘When you find yourself in a hole, sometimes it’s best to quit digging.’ Screw that. I will never stop defending this joint. I’ll just do it willingly and proudly from outside the wire,” his resignation letter to staff concluded.
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