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T
he FBI is allowing senior agency officials accused of sexual impropriety to face lighter penalties than line employees for similar misconduct, according to records provided to Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office by agency whistleblowers.
The same records also show that FBI employees under investigation for sexual misconduct quit their jobs before they could face any form of disciplinary action over a period of nearly two decades.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Grassley claims that protected whistleblower disclosures provided to his office reveal that from 2004-2020, “hundreds of FBI employees have retired or resigned because of sexual misconduct allegations against them and that they did so in order to avoid accountability.”
“For example, according to an internal unclassified Justice Department document from the Office of Disciplinary Appeals titled ‘Retirements and Resignations During Unwelcome Sexual Conduct Adjudications,’ as of December 23, 2020, the Justice Department reviewed the FBI’s disciplinary case database, Javelin, ‘to observe patterns and offer recommendations,’” the letter reads.
“The Justice Department reviewed 8,686 summaries in Javelin and found that from 2004 to December 23, 2020, ‘665 FBI employees, including 45 [Senior Executive Service (SES)]-level employees have retired or resigned following an FBI or [Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG)] investigation into alleged misconduct, but prior to [the Office of Professional Responsibility’s (OPR)] issuance of a final disciplinary letter,’” it added.
