The FBI said Thursday it took steps to stop agents from breaking rules on investigations involving politicians, candidates, religious groups, the media and others — problems that were later revealed by The Washington Times.
Agents violated FBI rules at least 747 times in 18 months while conducting sensitive investigations, according to an internal 2019 FBI audit first reported by The Times.
The FBI said it takes compliance with its rules seriously, which is why it conducted the audit.
“While the number of deviations from FBI approval, notification, and administrative requirements noted in the report is unacceptable, we began implementing important changes in training and raising awareness even prior to issuance of the report, and we remain committed to ensuring all personnel adhere to our internal investigative and operational guidelines,” the FBI said in a statement.
The FBI did not explain what changes were made to agents’ training nor precisely when they were implemented, and it declined to answer any other questions about the audit’s findings.
Congress members have demanded answers about the FBI’s actions.
The internal review covering Jan. 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, found agents failing to get approval from senior FBI officials to launch an investigation, agents failing to document a necessary legal review before starting an investigation, and agents failing to tell prosecutors what they were doing, among other things.
FBI auditors recorded a ratio of slightly more than two “compliance errors” per sensitive investigative matter (SIM) that the auditors examined. SIMs are actions that can affect Americans’ constitutional rights because they involve people engaged in politics, government, the media, religious expression, and other things.
The identities of those people are not included in the audit, but a categorical breakdown showed a majority of the cases examined, 191, involved domestic public officials. Dozens more cases involve religious organizations or their prominent members, and dozens of other cases involved political organizations and individuals. Ten cases involved domestic political candidates and 11 cases involved the news media.
Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican, called for Congress to investigate the FBI’s conduct and he said lawmakers must hold people accountable who enabled problems to occur.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, said the president “should fire any director who tolerates this level of malfeasance.”
The full extent of rule-breaking in the FBI’s work is unknown and FBI auditors reviewed a small segment of the bureau’s total portfolio. Cato Institute senior fellow Patrick Eddington thinks much wrongdoing at the FBI is unexamined and he uncovered the 2019 audit in litigation against the FBI for access to government records.
New details about the FBI’s conduct may also emerge from the Government Accountability Office reviewing FBI’s surveillance of individuals and groups through its agents’ “assessments.” Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican, said GAO committed to conducting a full review in response to a request made by her and Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat, who are members of the House Oversight Committee.
She said earlier this week that she expects to receive a GAO report within two months.