Attorney General Eric Holder’s Friday memo warning Justice Department employees against soliciting prostitutes did not go far enough, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says.
“There is no place in the federal government for employees who purchase sex. This memo itself says that such activity ‘creates a greater demand for human trafficking,’ but fails to impose a sufficiently serious policy that would deter employees from engaging in this practice. The memo is a good first step, but more needs to be done,” Grassley said in a statement Monday.
Late last week Holder issued a department-wide memo discouraging employees from using prostitutes.
“The solicitation of prostitution threatens the core mission of the Department, not simply because it invites extortion, blackmail, and leaks of sensitive or classified information, but also because it undermines the Department’s efforts to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking,” the memo warns.
It continues: “Department employees who violate these prohibitions will be subject to suspension or termination. Supervisors and managers are subject to discipline for failing to report suspected violations.”
Holder’s memo came in response to a recent Inspector General report which revealed that Drug Enforcement Administration employees engaged in drug cartel funded “sex parties” while stationed in Columbia.
Grassley’s concern is that the memo does not establish a “zero tolerance policy” at DOJ for employees who purchased sex, as he called for shortly after the report’s release.
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