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Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, went before the House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Wednesday and accused the FBI of retaliating against those who criticize the agency's actions.

"Underneath all of the good things the FBI does, unfortunately, there is a history of abuse, mismanagement and retaliation so strong that it has become part of its organizational culture," Grassley testified. "Unfortunately, it is this culture that causes the FBI to confuse dissent with disloyalty."

Grassley's complaint was supported by testimony from two long-time FBI agents who said they suffered retaliation by being transferred to lesser jobs or becoming the target of minor internal probes.

Bassem Youssef, a 20-year FBI veteran who now heads the agency's Communications Analysis Unit, said he was transferred to a lesser job that failed to use his fluency in Arabic after he complained that less-qualified people were put into counterterrorism posts.

Youssef also reported improper use of some warrentless subpoenas issued through so-called national security letters. In 2006, the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility confirmed that the FBI retaliated against Youssef.

After Youssef's complaints, Grassley recounted, "he quickly became like most whistleblowers -- about as welcome as a skunk at a Sunday afternoon picnic."

Another witness, Michael German, was a 14-year FBI agent who left the agency to take a policy position with the American Civil Liberties Union in 2006.

He allegedly was retaliated against after revealing an improper wiretap into an alleged alliance between a Florida neo-Nazi group and an Islamic terrorist group.

After complaining, there was an internal investigation of German for alleged improper travel and misspending $50, which the ex-agent said he considered "a retaliatory investigation." He was cleared in that case.

"Neither our security nor our civil liberties are protected when incompetent FBI managers can so easily suppress evidence, falsify FBI records to cover up their misconduct and retaliate against agents who dare report the abuse," said German.

While Youssef talked about his past experience, he raised new concerns charging that the FBI, eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has an understaffed counterterrorism operation and not enough agents trained in Arabic.

Crime Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., promised to work with Grassley on legislation that has been passed in different versions by the House and Senate to include FBI agents and other national security agents under a whistleblower protection law. The current law excludes them.

COMMENTS

• I am very glad that Senator Grassley is reviewing this problem. These circumstances are particularly loathsome because it is the FBI to whom federal employees would take wrongdoing by their agencies if the OIG does not investigate or if in fact the OIG is the perpetrator, which is more the case today than ever in the past. What could a federal employee expect in the way of proper action by the FBI? The same bad treatment? Worse? This situation needs to be corrected. The FBI has become quite arrogant and the Congress has been "afraid" of them for too long (since Hoover days.) The FBI needs to focus on doing their jobs right, not on covering up their mistakes. For example, as reported in the news, if the FBI had paid more attention to small airport owners reporting persons wanting to learn to fly a plane but not how to land it, we might not have had the New York twin towers disaster. If the FBI would just do their work properly, there would not be whisteblowers among them. The FBI may do a million things right everyday and it is not an easy job, but it is far better to admit mistakes than to try to discredit those that report the mistakes. That problem is making a grand institution the butt of too many jokes (and way worse.) Thank you Senator Grassley. DSW Posted May 27, 2008 9:27 AM
• I retired after 20 years as an agent. Senator, you have no idea how bad the management is and how deep the retributions go. Retired in Tennessee Posted May 23, 2008 8:55 AM
• Way to go Senator Grassley, it’s good to hear of an elected official who cares about their civil service constituents. I have requested assistance through my Congressman's office (Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland) on two different occasions for reprisal, retaliation, and violations of my civil rights and both requests have resulted in nothing but a continuation of the same DHS, Customs and Border Protection abuse and mismanagement. I know who I'm going to vote for next go round Steny and it's whoever is running against you. It's just me Posted May 22, 2008 1:18 PM