The FBI might need to add “smutty” to its “fidelity, bravery and integrity” slogan.
A series of internal reports obtained by CNN reveal a “rash of sexting cases” by FBI employees using their government-issued BlackBerrys.
Beyond merely sending lurid messages, employees also sent naked photos to coworkers, visited massage parlors and one even had an ongoing sexual relationship with a known drug dealer.
Worst of all, however, was the misdeed chronicled in a report from January 2013, when an employee was fired after being caught in a sting operation “purchasing and viewing DVDs of naked boys.”
The FBI’s sexual misdeeds are the latest in a long line of frat boy-like behavior from government organizations. Last year it was revealed that Secret Service and DEA agents had solicited prostitutes in Columbia while CIA Director David Petraeus was forced to resign after an illicit affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
The latest scandalous revelations about the FBI come in confidential quarterly reports stamped “Not for public dissemination” which are sent to all FBI employees as a way to deter misconduct.
“We’re hoping (that) getting the message out in the quarterlies is going to teach people, as well as their supervisors … you can’t do this stuff,” FBI assistant director Candice Will said to CNN.
“When you are given an FBI BlackBerry, it’s for official use. It’s not to text the woman in another office who you found attractive or to send a picture of yourself in a state of undress. That is not why we provide you an FBI BlackBerry.”
The vast majority of the FBI’s 36,000 employees have not been featured in the reports, but 1,045 were disciplined between 2010 and 2012, according to the agency.
The reports also outline “ethical pitfall and other violations” beyond sexting.
One employee “repeatedly committed check fraud” and then lied under oath when questioned about it. The employee was fired.
Another employee left an FBI shotgun, laptop and camera in his FBI-issued car overnight whereupon a thief broke into the car and stole the items. The employee was handed a five-day suspension.
Citing “unprofessional conduct” an employee with an “exemplary work record” “visited a massage parlor and paid for a sexual favor from the masseuse.” The employee got a 14-day suspension.
One employee hid a recording device in their supervisor’s office, then searched the area and made copies of all the supervisor’s bad comments about the employee before handing over all the materials to a lawyer in support of a case against the supervisor. The employee was fired.
An advocacy group for active and former FBI agents, the FBI Agents Association, said of the reports, “It is important to note that the ratio of disciplinary issues among FBI agents are among the lowest in the federal government and private sector.”