Kash Patel is considered the leading candidate for CIA director

Former Defense Department official Kash Patel is being considered for several national security posts — including CIA director, a key Republican source told The Post on Monday.

Patel, 44, previously served as a National Security Council official, senior adviser to the acting director of national intelligence and chief of staff to the defense secretary.

While President-elect Donald Trump has not yet made an official decision on Patel’s final move, there have been “discussions” between the transition team and the former Trump official – with most of the discussions on Trump World focused on the CIA, according to the source.

If he doesn’t run the CIA, Patel could run the FBI or become director of national intelligence, which the source said he would accept.

Patel had been in talks to be installed as CIA deputy director at the end of Trump’s term, but the agency’s chief, Gian Haspel, expressed opposition and threatened to resign, Axios reported at the time.

The Trump transition team has tried to keep discussions about who will fill its top Cabinet posts secret until the president-elect himself makes the official announcements.

Patel has been rumored to be a possible top pick for months. He was one of the leading Republicans to oppose the investigation into Trump and Russian interference in 2016 and has long opposed the administration’s overreach in its federal agents’ surveillance of Republicans.

Patel has written about the need to dismantle the Justice Department and overhaul the intelligence agencies, including the FBI, and fire their “top brass.”

“[T]“The FBI is so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic action is taken,” Patel wrote in his book “Government Gangsters.”

Trump spoke out in favor of Patel’s book on the campaign trail, calling it a “blueprint” for his next term in the White House in a Truth Social post.