Kash Patel flew to Miami on Air Force One last weekend to watch an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, wearing his signature wraparound sunglasses — at least the second time he has gone to a mixed-martial arts fight as FBI director.

Days earlier, he showed up at two NHL games, grinning in photographs with the hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. At one, in Washington, Patel, who has played the sport since he was a child, was spotted in the owner’s suite as he watched the Capitals player Alex Ovechkin tie Gretzky’s scoring record.

And since taking over the agency, Patel has been a noticeable presence at President Trump’s side, delivering a warm-up speech at the justice department before Trump himself spoke and hovering behind him during the UFC match in Miami.

Patel, 44, seems to relish his new status as director, cutting a highly visible path while running the most important law enforcement agency in the nation. His embrace of the spotlight appears to be a break from the recent past. Previous directors did the job with little fanfare, deflecting any attention that might detract from the work of the bureau.

“As director, I had never sought publicity or the spotlight that sometimes corners public officials,” Louis Freeh, the bureau’s fifth director, wrote in his memoir.

The last three directors have been a mix of personalities, all intent on operating at arm’s length from the President. Robert S. Mueller III was known as serious and laconic. His successor, James B. Comey, was considered a powerful orator who did not shrink from making headlines. Christopher A. Wray, who stepped down before Trump took office rather than get fired, fell somewhere in between Mueller, who did not speak enough, and Comey, who spoke too much, former agents said. (They pointed to Comey’s infamous news conference in July 2016 that upended the presidential election.)

In his three months atop the bureau, Patel has wasted little time emblazing his vision. He has begun to reshape the bureau in short order — in some ways similar to Freeh — like pushing agents into the field. He has also pushed senior executives to step down. (J. Edgar Hoover, its founding director, simply fired them.) He has rejiggered the agency’s reporting structure, undoing changes that Mueller made, and brought in a deputy who has never been an agent, a first for the agency.

The changes have not resonated with Patel’s fierce following, prompting his deputy, Dan Bongino, to post on social media: “Because you don’t see things happening in live time, does not mean they aren’t happening. Not even close. You will see results, and not every result will please everyone, but you will absolutely see results”.

Patel’s active presence on social media, including his personal and work profiles, reflects his approach. His accounts on X intersperse flattering stories about the FBI under his guidance and photographs of his public appearances with regular updates on priorities like drug seizures and extraditions of gang leaders. Yet they also serve as a cudgel, upbraiding publications like The New York Times for reporting on personnel moves at the agency.

Patel, the ninth director of the FBI, is also the youngest since Hoover was appointed in 1924. He is enjoying bachelorhood, dating Alexis Wilkins, 26, a country music singer who lives in Nashville. Despite the challenges of being director, Patel appears to be making time for her.

According to flight-tracking data, one of the bureau’s Gulfstream jets has made three round trips to Nashville. On at least one of those stops, Patel conducted official business, visiting the local field office and meeting with Tennessee’s Republican senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, along with sheriffs from around the state.

There is little information about the other trips, including who covered the cost, but it is not unusual for the director to take an FBI plane for personal reasons. Directors must reimburse the government for use of the plane at the price of a commercial ticket — much less than it actually costs to operate the expensive jets.

The FBI spokesman declined to comment, citing security reasons and saying, “All ethical guidelines are rigorously followed.”