Emails show FBI Director Kash Patel's Hawaii trip included 'VIP snorkel'
at a Pearl Harbor memorial
[May 15, 2026]
By JIM MUSTIAN, ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL BIESECKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Kash Patel visited Hawaii last summer, the FBI
took pains to note the director was not on vacation, highlighting his
walking tour of the bureau's Honolulu field office and meetings with
local law enforcement.
Left out of the FBI's news releases was an exclusive excursion that
Patel took days later when he participated in what government officials
described as a “VIP snorkel” around the USS Arizona in an outing
coordinated by the military. The sunken battleship entombs more than 900
sailors and Marines at Pearl Harbor.
The swim, revealed in government emails obtained by The Associated
Press, comes to light amid criticism of Patel’s use of the FBI plane and
his global travel, which have blurred professional responsibilities with
leisure activities. The FBI did not disclose the snorkeling session or
that Patel had returned to Hawaii for two days after his initial
stopover on the island.
“It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly
distractions — this time at a site commemorating the second deadliest
attack in U.S. history — instead of staying laser-focused on keeping
Americans safe,” said Stacey Young, who founded Justice Connection, a
network of former federal prosecutors and agents who advocate for the
Department of Justice's independence.
With few exceptions, snorkeling and diving are off-limits around the USS
Arizona. The battleship, now a military cemetery reachable only by boat,
has stood as one of the nation’s most hallowed sites since Japan bombed
and sank it in 1941. Marine archaeologists and crews from the National
Park Service make occasional dives at the memorial to survey the
condition of the wreck. Other dives have been conducted to inter the
remains of Arizona survivors who wanted to rest eternally with their
former shipmates.
Still, since at least the Obama administration, the Navy and the park
service have quietly allowed a handful of dignitaries, including
military and government officials responsible for management of the
memorial, to swim at the site. The Navy and park service declined to
provide details of those permitted to take such excursions.
Former FBI directors have visited Pearl Harbor on official business, but
none going back to at least 1993 has gone snorkeling at the memorial,
according to those familiar with their activities and a former
government diver who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity for fear of
retribution. The diver said it was unusual for a director or anyone not
connected to the memorial to be granted such access because the swims
come with physical risks and present security, safety and logistical
challenges.
Patel has faced scrutiny over his leadership for the past year, with his
use of government resources emerging as a recurring storyline of his
tenure. The issue flared in February when video surfaced of Patel
partying in the locker room with members of the U.S. men’s hockey team
after their gold medal win at the Winter Olympics in Milan. Patel
defended the trip as recently as this week as “purposely planned” in
connection with a cybercrime investigation involving the Italian
authorities.
Unanswered questions about exclusive outing
Patel's excursion was in August as he spent two days in Hawaii on his
return to the United States from official visits to Australia and New
Zealand. On his way to those countries, he stopped in Hawaii to visit
the Honolulu field office. An FBI spokesman did not answer questions
about the snorkeling session.
The FBI said in a statement that top regional commanders hosted Patel at
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam “as they commonly do with US government
officials on official travel.” The Pearl Harbor visit, the spokesman
said, "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.”
It was not clear how Patel's snorkeling session was arranged. A Navy
spokesperson, Capt. Jodie Cornell, confirmed the outing but said the
service was not able to track down who initiated it.
Participants in Patel's swim were told "not to touch/come into contact
with” the sunken ship in any way, Cornell said. She added that the
snorkelers were also briefed about “the historic significance of the
Memorial as the final resting place/tomb for hundreds of service
members."
A ‘VIP Snorkel’
Government emails obtained by the AP through a public records request
show military officials coordinated logistics and personnel for the “VIP
Snorkel.”
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FBI director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Fiscal
Year 2027 Budget Request for the FBI, the Drug Enforcement
Administration; the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the on Capitol Hill,
Tuesday May 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The National Park Service, which administers the site in coordination
with the Navy, told AP it was not involved in Patel's swim and declined
to comment on the excursion. It also declined to answer questions about
any other such outings.
Among those afforded invitations to snorkel have been Navy admirals and
secretaries of defense and the interior, according to the former
government diver. The diver added that the swims were intended to
provide officials with insights into the memorial and its operations.
The Navy declined to provide examples or numbers showing how frequently
it organizes such excursions. It described Patel's outing as “not an
anomaly.”
Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran, is part of a select group from the
Paralyzed Veterans of America trained to dive on the Arizona annually to
check on the condition of the wreck. He said it was inappropriate for
Patel and other political figures to snorkel or dive at the memorial.
“It's like having a bachelor party at a church. It’s hallowed ground,"
he said. "It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves.”
Some family members don't object to snorkeling
Some family members of Pearl Harbor survivors said they were not
bothered by such official excursions, though some expressed a desire to
also be permitted to snorkel at the site. They said they have not been
permitted to do so.
“I have not heard of anyone who would object to these visits as they are
very rare and there aren’t any survivors of the Arizona left alive,”
Deidre Kelley, national president of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl
Harbor Survivors, wrote in an email. “Their children might have some
objections but I haven’t heard any.”
Patel visited Pearl Harbor several years ago during a trip he made to
Hawaii while serving as chief of staff to Christopher Miller, then the
acting secretary of defense, according to the former government diver.
Miller said he snorkeled over the Arizona during an official visit to
the base, but Patel was not present for that excursion. Miller said he
was invited to snorkel by regional military officials and was told such
a tour was for “special occasions and for special visitors, of which
you’re one.” He called it a “meaningful” experience.
“It was a very somber and meaningful event,” Miller said in an
interview. “It was a historical tour. It wasn’t a recreational thing.”
FBI will not discuss Patel's return to Hawaii
Beyond the snorkeling excursion, it is not clear what else Patel did
during his second stop in Hawaii.
Flight tracking data for the Gulfstream G550 typically used by the FBI
director show the jet remained on the island two nights during that stay
before flying on to Las Vegas, Patel’s adopted hometown. The jet has a
published range of about 7,700 miles (12,391 kilometers), meaning the
plane would have needed to refuel somewhere between New Zealand and
Washington.
The snorkeling session happened one day after Patel stopped in
Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand. The
visit sparked controversy after the AP revealed that Patel had gifted
that country’s police and spy bosses inoperable 3D-printed replica
pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws.
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Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press writers Audrey McAvoy
in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
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