FBI Director Kash Patel took an undisclosed Kash Patel snorkel outing around the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbour in Honolulu, Hawaii, Associated Press reported.
The AP said government emails showed military personnel coordinating the “VIP snorkel” during Patel’s Hawaii stop after official travel to Australia and New Zealand.
The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of more than 900 sailors and Marines killed in the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
The Navy confirmed that participants received instructions not to touch or contact the sunken battleship and heard a briefing on its significance as a final resting place, AP reported.
The FBI highlighted Patel’s Honolulu office visit and meetings with local law enforcement, but did not disclose that he stayed in Hawaii for two additional days and joined the snorkelling outing.
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson defended the event as a historical tour honouring Pearl Harbour victims and criticised coverage that cast it as recreational, People reported, citing AP.
AP reported that such swims usually involve marine archaeologists, National Park Service staff or rare visitors with official duties at the memorial. People familiar with past FBI directors said no director had snorkelled there since at least 1993.
