Mr. Patel served as the former Chief of Staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and is responsible for leading the Secretary’s mission at the Department, including his executive staff and providing counsel to the Secretary on all matters concerning the Department’s operations.

Previously, Mr. Patel served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism (CT) at the National Security Council (NSC). In that capacity, Mr. Patel oversaw the execution of several of President Donald J. Trump’s top priorities, including eliminating ISIS and Al-Qa’ida leadership such as al-Baghdadi and Qasem al-Rimi, and the safe repatriation of numerous American hostages. Mr. Patel also served as Principal Deputy to the Acting Director of National Intelligence, where he oversaw the operations of all 17 intelligence community agencies and provided the President’s Daily Briefing.

Before joining the NSC, Mr. Patel served as the National Security Advisor and Senior Counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), where he spearheaded the investigation into the Russian active measures campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. Concurrently, he oversaw sensitive programs for the Intelligence Community and U.S. Special Operations Forces and worked to enact legislation to fully fund the multi-billion dollar budgets supporting intelligence and counterterrorism operations worldwide.

Mr. Patel joined the HPSCI following his tenure as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice (DOJ), where he led investigations spanning multiple theaters of conflict and oversaw the successful prosecution of criminals aligned with Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, and other terror groups. Mr. Patel also served as the DOJ Liaison Officer to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), working with our nation’s most prestigious counterterrorism units to conduct collaborative global targeting operations against high value terrorism targets.

Mr. Patel began his career as a public defender, trying scores of complex cases ranging from murder, to narco-trafficking, to complex financial crimes in jury trials in state and federal courts.

A native of New York, Mr. Patel completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond before returning to New York to earn his law degree, along with a Certificate in International Law from University College London Faculty of Laws in the United Kingdom. Kash is a life-long ice hockey player, coach, and fan.