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AP Emails Show FBI Director Kash Patel Took Military-Arranged ‘VIP Snorkel’ at USS Arizona

The release of internal emails refocuses attention on oversight of dignitary access to a war grave.

FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the on Capitol Hill, Tuesday May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A photo illo illustration of Kash Patel snorkeling underwater at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.
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FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Overview

  • Government emails obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday showed Patel joined a military-coordinated “VIP snorkel” over the USS Arizona during an August 2025 return stop in Hawaii that the FBI did not list in public releases.
  • The Navy confirmed the outing and said it could not determine who requested it, while the National Park Service said it had no role in the swim.
  • The Arizona is a war grave where the water is typically off-limits, though select dignitaries have occasionally been allowed in recent years, and a former government diver and records indicate no FBI director since at least 1993 had snorkeled there.
  • The FBI said regional commanders hosted Patel as part of national security engagements in the Indo-Pacific, and the bureau’s public affairs chief called the snorkel a historical tour to honor the dead rather than a party.
  • Flight data show the FBI Gulfstream stayed in Hawaii two nights before flying to Las Vegas, a detail feeding wider criticism of Patel’s travel and conduct from veterans and watchdogs after other episodes in Milan and New Zealand.