Donald Trump’s newly appointed FBI Director, Kash Patel, has made a series of unusual requests that would have been unthinkable in previous administrations, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

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Patel, a close ally of Trump, was confirmed by the narrowest margin in the US Senate. Shortly after taking office, he reportedly asked for direct phone lines to Trump from both his office and home, bypassing the Department of Justice's usual chain of communication.

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"Senior FBI officials can’t bring cellphones into their offices given the security risks. A secure landline already sits on the desks of many top FBI officials that can connect them to the White House switchboard, the CIA, and other national security agencies, but Patel asked how to connect directly with Trump’s Oval Office," the report said.

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His first move as director was to remove all existing executive staffers from the seventh floor, where his office is located. Patel also explored "an arrangement outside the traditional chain of command in which the FBI director reports to the deputy attorney general, and the president usually talks only to the attorney general," according to the Journal.

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Patel looked into hiring his own private security detail

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Additionally, Patel has reportedly looked into hiring his own private security detail, despite already having FBI agents assigned for his protection. The report added, "Patel asked about having a separate detail, in an apparent suggestion that he didn’t fully trust the FBI agents, according to people familiar with the request."

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Historically, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI’s first director, maintained a direct phone line to the president from his home, but directors since then have deliberately sought to keep a clear separation between the FBI and the White House, Yale history professor Beverly Gage told The Wall Street Journal.

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They aimed to present "the FBI as the nonpartisan, nonpolitical institution and the president as something else," Gage said.

(With inputs from agencies)