The FBI is requesting a list of all its personnel involved in helping the Justice Department prosecute Jan. 6 cases.

The notice sent within the bureau Friday asked for the names of all agents and supervisors across the country involved in investigating and helping to prosecute people who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Domestic Threat Operations Center is requesting the names from all the field offices. The FBI declined to comment.

Reaction at the bureau is panic, because a wave of terminations at the agency occurred on Thursday. FBI personnel are not sure about the extent of the order, and whether it applies to every FBI employee who ever came across a Jan. 6 case in some way, according to agency sources.

The request for the list came one day after FBI employees were terminated or forced to quit within hours of FBI director nominee Kash Patel’s testimony at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

President Trump, who pardoned more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants on Jan. 20, the day he was sworn into office, has at times referred to those who were incarcerated as “political hostages,” saying they were unfairly treated by the Justice Department.

SEE ALSO: FBI purge: 20+ top officials ousted in sweeping shake-up

At least 20 FBI executive assistant directors, assistant directors and special agents in charge from throughout the U.S. were forced out of the agency on Thursday, according to sources. Field offices where top officials lost their posts included Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.

Following Thursday’s hearing, Mr. Patel,  who sparred with the Senate’s Democrats, appeared on a glide path to confirmation.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee pressed Mr. Patel to respond to recent Justice Department firings and asked if he was aware of any plans to punish FBI agents or personnel associated with past investigations targeting the president.

The acting attorney general fired more than a dozen Justice Department officials who worked on federal criminal investigations into Mr. Trump.

Mr. Patel said he was not involved with any recent firings at the Justice Department and he was not aware of any proposals to punish FBI agents or personnel associated with previous Trump investigations.

However, Mr. Trump selected Mr. Patel to overhaul the FBI, which Republicans have long said is rife with corruption and has been politicized against conservatives.

Mr. Patel, who has served in senior level adviser positions related to national security, said at his confirmation hearing that he planned to stop the “weaponization” of the FBI.

“There will be no politicization of the FBI. There will be no retributive actions,” he told the lawmakers. 

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