What was billed internally as a quick stopover on Oahu has turned into a public relations rip current for FBI Director Kash Patel, after government emails revealed he took part in a military-coordinated "VIP snorkel" around the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor last August. The rare swim over the final resting place of more than 900 sailors and Marines never showed up in FBI news releases about his Honolulu visit and is now fueling fresh questions about how the director spends his official time stateside.
What the emails reveal
Government records obtained by The Associated Press show military officials helped handle logistics and personnel for the so-called VIP snorkel and that the FBI left the swim off public notices of Patel’s local schedule. The emails indicate the outing happened in August as Patel was returning from official visits to Australia and New Zealand. Flight-tracking data reviewed by reporters show the Gulfstream G550 typically used by the FBI director remained on Oahu for two nights during the stopover.
How the memorial is protected
The USS Arizona is treated as a military cemetery and is administered by the National Park Service, which manages visitor access and programs at the memorial. According to the National Park Service, snorkeling and diving around the wreck are generally limited to preservation work, archaeological surveys and occasional interments. Those activities are carried out by park staff and marine archaeologists under tight protocols designed to safeguard human remains and the structure of the sunken battleship.
Military and FBI responses
The Navy has confirmed the excursion and, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, said it could not determine who first floated the idea for the snorkel but described Patel’s outing as "not an anomaly." Navy spokesperson Capt. Jodie Cornell told reporters that participants were instructed not to touch or otherwise come into contact with the sunken ship. The FBI, for its part, said top regional commanders hosted Patel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam as a stop on his official travel.
Where this trip fits
The snorkeling session came one day after Patel stopped in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand, a visit that later drew scrutiny after reports that he presented inoperable 3-D-printed replica pistols to New Zealand security officials. That episode was detailed by The Washington Post and other outlets, and it has since been folded into broader questions about Patel’s overseas travel and judgment. The newly released Hawaii emails now add one more chapter to a growing list of public controversies involving the director.
Reactions
Critics argue that snorkeling over such a solemn site was a bad look, saying it blurred the line between official duties and private-style access. "It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly distractions," Stacey Young of Justice Connection told The Associated Press. A Marine veteran and former government diver also called snorkeling over the Arizona inappropriate.
Other voices have been more measured. Some family members of Pearl Harbor survivors told reporters they were not offended by rare, officially arranged excursions and said those visits can be meaningful when carried out with care and respect.
Local perspective
In Honolulu and the Pearl Harbor community, the flap is as much about process as propriety. Access to the water around the wreck is tightly controlled, and any special permissions tend to draw sharp scrutiny from veterans groups and preservation advocates. Hoodline has already tracked earlier Patel-related dustups, including coverage of a widely read boozy profile last month that kept his conduct under a spotlight.
Local officials and veterans organizations say they now want clear answers on who signed off on the VIP snorkel and what rules govern such visits, as the Navy and FBI try to explain how a quick island stop became the latest controversy in Patel’s tenure.
