FBI sees rising Ground Zero toll for agents

The FBI has a new enemy No. 1.

The feds are seeing a jump in agents who have died of 9/11-related illnesses, with three dying from their exposure to toxins kicked up by the terror attacks since March, officials said.

Yet very few federal agents have sought help for their illnesses — be it through the World Trade Center Health program or the federal 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, according to fund Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya.

“The federal numbers seem low, considering how many people we know must have been there,” Bhattacharyya said during a sitdown with the Daily News Editorial Board on Thursday. “(Ground Zero) was an FBI site, the Secret Service was there, FEMA was there, and yet we have less than 1,000 (Victims Compensation Fund) claims from federal employees.”

To make sure that sickened federal employees are getting the help they need, Bhattacharyya and FBI Director Christopher Wray will be holding a special forum on Friday at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum for federal law enforcement officers who responded on 9/11 to the attacks, be it in New York City, the Pentagon or Shanksville Pa., where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.

Wray — who eulogized at least two of the three FBI agents who have died since March — and Bhattacharyya will be encouraging those who responded to the terror attacks to register with the World Trade Center Health Registry and the Victims Compensation Fund.

Bhattacharyya said 15 FBI agents have died of 9/11 illnesses since the terror attacks.

Most died after 2015, when seven FBI 9/11 responders were put on the agency’s wall of honor designated to those who died “during the performance of their duty.”

In May, Special Agent David LeValley, the head of the FBI’s Atlanta office, died from complications linked to his weeks working at Ground Zero. Two months later, in June, Supervisory Special Agent Brian Crews also died of a WTCrelated cancer, officials said.