Two FBI officials familiar with the matter told NBC News on Monday that FBI Director Kash Patel has inquired about setting up a direct phone line to the White House and about retaining a private security detail for himself. Those questions, and importantly, the possible motivation behind them, could be significant and disturbing clues as to how Patel views his job and his agents.

As first reported by The Wall Street Journal on March 7, “according to people familiar with his inquiry” Patel queried officials as to how he might have secure lines installed in his office and home that would go directly to the Oval Office (Ben Williamson, the bureau’s assistant director for public affairs, denied the Journal’s report). If true, this seemingly simple request from Patel points to either an ignorance of how the relationship between an FBI director and the president is supposed to work — and has worked for decades. There’s a reason why a direct line to the president isn’t already sitting on Patel’s desk — let alone in his home or car. It’s not supposed to.