The FBI is expected to transfer up to 1,500 of its personnel out of its Washington headquarters to field offices across the country, bureau managers learned on Friday.

About 1,000 agents and administrative employees would be sent from FBI headquarters in downtown Washington to field offices within cities the Trump administration established as high-crime locations.

Another 500 staffers would be transferred to the agency’s satellite headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Washington Times learned that those expected to be transferred by the bureau are not part of the FBI’s senior leadership who were recently promoted by former director Christopher Wray and deputy director Paul Abbate, but are instead lower-ranking personnel from special agents to low-end supervisors.

In a statement to The Washington Times the FBI said, “Director Patel has made clear his promise to the American public that FBI agents will be in communities focused on combatting violent crime. He has directed FBI leadership to implement a plan to put this promise into action.”

Mr. Patel, in a message sent to the FBI’s over 30,000 employees late last week, said that an overhaul at the bureau was coming.

“This will include streamlining our operations at headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation,” Mr. Patel wrote.

Mr. Patel, a former federal prosecutor, said at his confirmation hearing that he wanted to move more FBI agents into field offices, noting that 7,500 employees work in the Washington Field Office in Hoover Building alone and that 11,000 FBI employees work in the national capital region.

“I am fully committed to having that workforce go out into the interior of the country, where I live, west of the Mississippi,” he told lawmakers in late January, “and work with sheriff’s departments and local officers.”

During his first day at headquarters, he met with staff and was sworn in at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I promise you the following, there will be accountability within the FBI and outside of the FBI,” he said before his close supporters and family. “We will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight starting this weekend.”

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.