Washington – The FBI’s handling of child sexual abuse investigations continues to fall short in key areas, years after a scandal involving a US gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar that shook the bureau, an internal watchdog said in a new report issued there.
The Justice Department’s inspector general found that the FBI, which had updated its policies and training to improve agents’ response to allegations of sexual abuse against children, did not comply with the new rules. The audit was the result of a Justice Department investigation into FBI misconduct regarding allegations from a young gymnast that Nassar sexually abused her.
In 2021, the inspector general’s report found that the FBI knew Nassar was accused of abusing gymnasts in 2015 but failed to act, leaving him free to continue targeting them for months. Nassar is serving multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to charges of sexual abuse and child pornography in 2017 and 2018.
In April, the Department of Justice agreed to pay $138.7 million to settle 139 claims against the FBI for its handling of investigations into civil suits brought by Nassar’s victims.
After the scandal, the FBI implemented new policies and training programs, and FBI leaders pledged to correct the policies. Speaking before Congress in 2021, FBI Director Christopher Wray condemned the agents before handling Nassar’s allegations, saying, “There is nothing on the planet that happened in this case that is acceptable.” Again in 2022, he told Congress that the FBI would not make the same mistake in the future.
In a statement issued Friday, the FBI said: “Ensuring the safety and security of children is not the only priority for the FBI; it is a solemn duty to which we are committed to meeting the highest standards. The FBI’s efforts to combat crimes against children. is one of the most critical and demanding efforts that we do.
Inspector general’s report
As part of a new report, federal auditors randomly selected 327 cases involving child sexual abuse between October 2021 and February 2023 and evaluated whether FBI agents and supervisors followed proper protocols to ensure investigations were handled appropriately.
According to the inspector general, 42 cases require immediate investigative action due to lack of activity or reporting to local authorities as required. The FBI determined the agent needed more investigative work in 43% of the cases.
The inspector general highlighted one example where the FBI received an allegation of child sexual abuse by a registered sex offender but failed to investigate it for more than a year. At that point, according to the report, the perpetrator may have victimized another child.
The audit also found deficiencies in FBI personnel reporting allegations of abuse to local law enforcement and social services within the required 24-hour period.
“We found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements to law enforcement (state and local) in 47 percent of incidents or to social service agencies in 50 percent of incidents,” the report said. And if agents did file reports, the inspector general found only 43% met the 24-hour requirement.
One of the major flaws highlighted in the original Nassar report focused on the failure of the Indianapolis FBI Field Office to forward the allegations to officials in the California field office for further investigation.
The inspector general’s report Thursday found that there were problems with how field offices handled complaints during investigations. The Justice Department watchdog highlighted 26 cases where field offices transferred information about child sex abuse cases.
“We found only one incident that complied with the new policy” that followed the Nassar investigation, the report said. While 25 cases were identified as deficiencies due to errors in documentation and 21 were assigned to the receiving office within a 24-hour period, the report highlights the need to comply with all measures to ensure proper investigative measures are taken.
“While our audit found that the FBI has implemented training, policy updates, and system changes to improve its handling of child sexual abuse allegations since receiving allegations of child sexual abuse against Nassar, we identified instances where we believe the FBI improperly responded. the allegations,” the inspector general said.
As usual with inspector general reports, the watchdog issued 11 recommendations to the FBI, including developing methods to monitor compliance with reports and mandatory procedures to ensure that all reports of child sexual abuse are responded to within 24 hours.
The FBI agreed to implement the recommendations and has updated procedures in its National Threat Operations Center and field offices for handling allegations of abuse. But according to the inspector general’s report, more work needs to be done.
Michael Nordwall, the FBI’s assistant executive director, said the FBI “takes seriously” the inspector general’s findings, adding that the bureau is “updating our policies and procedures and adding controls to monitor the effectiveness of improvements.”
Speaking to reporters Thursday, a senior FBI official acknowledged mistakes were made in some cases, and said the bureau was working to combat sex crimes against children and improve compliance measures.
In 2023, the FBI investigated 4,900 cases of child sexual abuse, found or rescued about 4,000 victims and prosecuted about 1,500 offenders, the official said.
The official added that the surge in child sex abuse cases the FBI investigates each year poses new challenges for ongoing personnel.
The inspector general’s report highlights this problem, describing an example where a single agent was tasked with 60 investigations. “Many FBI officials have indicated that resources are a significant challenge,” the report said.
According to the audit, 15 FBI field offices requested funding changes to increase the number of agents assigned to child abuse cases by 2023. “Only one of those requests, for one agent, was approved,” the watchdog said. “Seven field offices appealed the decision to reject the realignment, but none of these appeals was successful.”
“It is very important that the FBI be able to handle these allegations,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Thursday. “Failure to do so can result in children being abused and perpetrators abusing other children.”
