Even though the following sentence will read like Government Mad Libs with the blanks already filled in, The Associated Press reports it to be true:
While on [activity] official business, [U.S. official] FBI Director Kash Patel went on [another activity] a “VIP snorkel” around [solemn U.S. memorial] Pearl Harbor’s USS Arizona battleship, which [now make it so much worse] entombs more than 900 sailors and Marines who died in a WWII attack so horrific President Franklin Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy.”
Patel reportedly toured the underwater wreckage, which is considered a cemetery and is off limits to tourists and families of Arizona victims, last August, according to emails the AP obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. At the time, the FBI insisted its director was not on vacation and was visiting Hawaii’s field office and meeting with local law enforcement representatives. But two days later, when his official business was done, Patel returned to Hawaii, a fact the FBI didn’t disclose at the time, and reportedly went swimming — or as officials described it, he went on a “VIP snorkel” session.
An FBI spokesman tells Rolling Stone that Patel’s Pearl Harbor was part of “our engagements in the Indo-Pacific theater” and that the visit was hosted by the IndoPacom Commander. “This was part of the Director’s public national security engagements last August with counterparts in New Zealand, Australia, our Honolulu Field Office, and the Department of War,” the spokesperson says.
The Navy and the National Parks Service look after the site, which is accessible only by boat and typically toured only by Parks Service officials and marine archeologists to look at its condition. While military and government officials who have a role in maintaining the site have visited it, the AP reports that visits from people without a particular tie to the Arizona (like, say, the FBI director) are out of the ordinary since they could be dangerous.
Navy and National Parks Service reps did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment. Navy spokesperson, Capt. Jodie Cornell told the AP that the visit happened but couldn’t say how it came together. The AP, however, reports that government emails suggest military officials set it up. The National Parks Service told the newswire it was not involved. A Navy rep told the AP that visits like Patel’s were “not an anomaly.”
But not all who learned of the visit were pleased. Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran who dives around the Arizona annually to check on its condition, thought Patel’s visit was wrong. “It’s like having a bachelor party at a church,” he told the AP. “It’s hallowed ground. It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves.” Ben Williamson, assistant director of public affairs for Patel, balked at Albertson’s quote on social media, saying, “It’s a historical tour to honor heroes who died on the USS Arizona — not a party.”
Patel has made headlines in recent months for using government resources for fun, such as when video surfaced of him celebrating with the U.S. men’s hockey team in their locker room at the Olympics in Milan, and reportedly using taxpayer-funded planes to visit his girlfriend.
