Bill aims to improve accountability at the FBI
Legislation introduced Thursday seeks to improve accountability at the FBI with a series of management reforms, including provisions that would give the Justice Department direct oversight of internal agency investigations and overhaul the FBI's Senior Executive Service disciplinary procedures. The FBI Reform Act of 2002 would permanently give the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General primary jurisdiction over any allegations of misconduct against FBI employees. The provision aims to codify a July 2001 directive from Attorney General John Ashcroft that gave the Justice Department the lead in investigating problems at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Previously, the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility investigated allegations of employee misconduct within the agency. "That's like having the fox guard the henhouse," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who introduced the bill along with Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The bill also would revamp the agency's disciplinary system for members of the Senior Executive Service, lifting the current rule requiring the agency to suspend SES employees guilty of misconduct for a minimum of 14 days. According to Grassley, in cases where FBI officials believe the 14-day suspension is too harsh, they are tempted to blame lower-level employees for infractions to avoid the mandatory punishment.
"Right now, FBI employees in the Senior Executive Service get slaps on the wrist and rank-and-file FBI agents are punished to the letter of the law," Grassley said.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh dismantled a separate SES disciplinary board after a 1999 internal ethics report concluded that SESers were less likely to be disciplined than other employees. But despite those efforts, rank-and-file employees allege that a double standard still exists.
"Of concern to me is the apparent deference paid to SES personnel who are found to have violated FBI policy, rules and regulations," said John E. Roberts, unit chief in the Office of Professional Responsibility at the FBI, during a July hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A related provision in the bill would give FBI whistleblowers the same protections other federal employees have under the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act. FBI employees were excluded from the 1989 legislation, but the agency was supposed to issue its own regulations protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. The agency did establish some protections, but they "fall short" of the coverage provided by the Whistleblower Protection Act, according to Grassley. Other provisions in the bill would require periodic lie detector tests for employees and contractors with access to sensitive information and would provide statutory authority to the FBI's police force to help those employees receive better pay and benefits. In addition, the bill would require the attorney general to submit reports to Congress on the FBI's legal authority over certain programs and the status of the agency's information management and technology.