The House intelligence committee has found that the CIA failed to properly deal with sexual assault among employees in its ranks, according to a copy of the investigation’s final report obtained by POLITICO.
In its hardest-hitting finding, the bipartisan report said there was “little to no accountability or punishment for confirmed perpetrators” and that there was “confusion and disorder” in the process of reporting such assaults.
The committee started its inquiry in January 2023 after a female CIA employee alleged that she had been physically attacked and sexually assaulted by a fellow officer at CIA headquarters. POLITICO, which revealed the investigation last April, reported that the agency had not punished a male colleague who had tried to forcibly kiss her repeatedly and that the agency did nothing when she reported the incident.
Numerous other whistleblowers also went to the committee and shared their own stories of sexual assault and harassment while at the agency. During its investigation, the committee interviewed more than 20 CIA whistleblowers, reviewed more than 4,000 pages of documents the agency gave it and held two oversight hearings.
“Over the course of the investigation, the committee discovered that CIA failed to handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment within its workforce in the professional and uniform manner that such sensitive allegations warrant,” the committee wrote in the executive summary.
The CIA said that it established an office in 2021 that advocates for officers who are dealing with sexual assault and harassment concerns and last June hired an experienced outside expert on sexual assault to lead that office. It said it also has made changes to strengthen its disciplinary processes and streamlined the way employees can report allegations and find resources to address their individual circumstances.
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