Former National Security Adviser John Bolton has compared President-elect Trump's pick to head the FBI, Kash Patel, to Lavrenti Beria, one of the Soviet Union's most feared secret police chiefs.
“President Trump has named Kash Patel to be his Lavrenti Beria,” Bolton said during an appearance on the show. NBC News' “Meet The Press” on Sunday. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”
NKVD refers to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and secret police of the Soviet Union, established from 1934 to 1946.
Beria was appointed deputy chief of the Soviet secret police by former Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Stalin and was said to be in charge of the Soviet Union's atomic bomb project. Atomic Heritage Foundation. He was known for violent tactics, including kidnapping, torture, and rape, and used these methods within the secret police force. At the time, Soviet leaders reportedly feared that Beria would use his control over the secret police to seize complete power.
Beria was later tried, found guilty of treason, and executed in Moscow in 1953.
