CI-12 is a counterintelligence squad within the FBI's Washington Field Office that handles cases involving foreign espionage, media leaks, and Iranian regime threats operating on U.S. soil. The unit maintained a network of confidential informants embedded in Iranian-American communities, which career intelligence officials described as irreplaceable assets developed over years. In early March 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel fired approximately a dozen CI-12 agents and staff who had previously worked on the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation, with sources describing the gutting as "devastating to the FBI's Iran program."