Former Trump Pentagon official backs Kash Patel for decisions during 2020 rescue mission

A Pentagon official in President-elect Donald Trump’s first term defended FBI Director nominee Kash Patel after a story reemerged about a 2020 SEAL Team 6 rescue mission of an American hostage in Nigeria.

The official, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Tony Tata, disputed claims from former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who slammed Mr. Patel following a mission to rescue Philip Walton in October 2020.

Mr. Walton was ultimately rescued, but Mr. Esper criticized Mr. Patel in his memoir “A Sacred Oath” for not securing overflight clearances promptly and thus jeopardizing the mission.

Mr. Tata took issue with Mr. Esper and called Mr. Patel “a great patriot” focused on the “success of the mission.”

“Kash is a great public servant who reveres and respects our military, law enforcement and veterans. I know. I have worked closely with him. In my service with Kash, he has always been committed to excellence in everything he does,” Mr. Tata told The Washington Times.

The armed kidnappers in Nigeria demanded a ransom, and U.S. officials suspected they would kill Mr. Walton or deliver him to an Islamic terrorist organization.

In his book, Mr. Esper wrote that the rescue mission’s information was inadequate.

He said Mr. Patel, who was Mr. Trump’s senior adviser for counterterrorism, told Mr. Tata that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had the green light to proceed with the mission.

Mr. Esper, however, says that when the SEALS were about to land in Nigeria, the State Department had not secured the overflight clearance, and the aircraft was diverted.

For the next hour, the planes circled above, waiting for the Nigerian government’s approval to enter its airspace to execute the operation.

Mr. Tata said that on Oct. 31, 2020, “Kash operated within the chain of command by relaying a message from the State Department to me, which he believed to be true.”

He continued, “I communicated that authority, along with several others previously confirmed, to the secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and [Special Operations Command] commander, among others.”

According to Mr. Tata, he and his team tried to confirm that authority with the State Department, which was responsible for obtaining the clearance.

“I called the chairman and discussed the status of all authorities,” he said. “The chairman recommended continuing with the launch of the team pending confirmation of the State Department authority because we could turn the planes around if we didn’t confirm the clearance.”

“Launching too much later would have put the darkness window in jeopardy, meaning the mission would have to be delayed 24 hours thereby risking the perishable intelligence and the life of Mr. Walton,” he said.

Mr. Esper wrote they were ultimately cleared and Mr. Walton was rescued unharmed, with no members on the rescue team injured.

Mr. Esper said federal officials were angry with Mr. Patel for claiming airspace rights existed when none did.

Mr. Esper wrote that his team said Mr. Patel “made the approval story up.”

The Atlantic reported that two people close to the situation said Mr. Tata, to whom Mr. Patel had given the approval, confronted him and said, “You could’ve gotten these guys killed!”

Mr. Patel allegedly responded, “If nobody got hurt, who the f—- cares?”

Mr. Tata disputed this exact exchange happened. 

“I never heard the words that somebody’s saying they heard from me. That’s not a quote from me and I certainly didn’t speak to Esper for his book,” Mr. Tata told The Times. 

“I haven’t really even thought about this mission, other than being thankful that the hostage got returned safely and the operators returned safely,” he said. “But it’s clear that Kash’s involvement played a large role in the success of the mission.”