FBI: Abuse of Power, Sexual Misconduct, and a Hand-Slap

We want to believe that the FBI is made up of the good guys. And often they are. But a new report shows why we should be concerned about the concentration of government power, even when collected in the name of protecting us. The fact is when you concentrate power, even in an organization as necessary as the FBI, you are going to find abuse. What were these FBI agents thinking? Collecting the addresses of “hot actresses” using FBI databases? Throwing your FBI weight around at a strip club? More shocking still, get a load of the light hand-slaps they got for their offenses. An excerpt from report in the UK’s Daily Mail:

“It is supposed to be the nation’s elite police force, working to the highest standards of all.

But hundreds of FBI agents each year are in fact having to be disciplined for serious breaches of misconduct, secret files have revealed.

In the past three years more than 1,000 FBI employees have been found guilty of inappropriate behaviour, including one agent who had a sexual relationship with a source.

Another agent used FBI databases to get personal details about celebrities he thought were ‘hot’.

And one male member of staff shared confidential information with his news reporter girlfriend, and then threatened to release a sex tape the two had made unless she kept it quiet.

The litany of misconduct was detailed in confidential summaries of disciplinary rulings obtained by CNN.

The disclosure threatens to undermine the FBI’s reputation for, as its own motto points out, ‘Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity’.

‘Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity’: Many agents are only managing one out of three from the bureau motto

The bureau could also face harsh criticism over its refusal to fire any of those caught out, even though the offences were of a grave nature.

Among the toughest punishments was for the agent who had the seven-month sexual relationship with a source. He was suspended for 40 days.

Another employee drunkenly ‘exploited his FBI employment’ at a strip club by falsely claiming he was conducting an official investigation. He was suspended for 30 days.

In another case a supervisor who viewed pornography in his office during work hours, while ‘sexually satisfying himself’ (so the file states) got a 35-day suspension.