FBI Agents Fight to Join Reserves

FBI Agents Fight to Join Reserves

September 9, 1997

THE DAILY FED

FBI Agents Fight to Join Reserves

FBI agents who want to serve in the military reserves are contesting an agency policy that does not permit them to be weekend warriors, according to the Associated Press.

Nearly 100 FBI agents claim in a federal lawsuit that the rule is discriminatory. The suit seeks to "prohibit discrimination and acts of reprisal" against FBI agents who want to serve in the reserves, said Richard Dienst, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer has ordered a September 15 hearing on a request to temporarily bar FBI Director Louis Freeh from enforcing the rule, which dates from J. Edgar Hoover's reign as FBI chief. According to the FBI, agents are considered "key federal employees," and therefore cannot belong to the reserves.

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