This week, a scathing audit by the Justice Department’s inspector general revealed that the FBI has continued to fail child sex abuse victims despite reforms implemented after the bureau’s botched investigation into disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
The audit found that allegations of sexual abuse against children were left unaddressed for months, allowing minors to continue being victimized. In one egregious example, the FBI failed to follow up on a tip about child abuse committed by a registered sex offender for over a year, failing to report the allegation to local law enforcement and the abuser’s probation officer. As a result, another child was abused for 15 months.
The audit also found that the FBI failed to document any steps taken to safeguard a 2-year-old who was being sexually abused while an investigation languished for over two years. The agent assigned to the case was juggling too many investigations, according to the inspector general.
A senior FBI official defended the bureau, saying that most of the issues highlighted in the audit were “compliance issues,” meaning that investigative steps were taken, but there was improper or missing documentation within the case file. However, the official acknowledged that there were instances where investigative steps should have been taken, calling those failures “completely unacceptable.”
The audit followed up on issues identified in the department’s investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Nassar case. The inspector general found that senior officials in the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the necessary seriousness and urgency.
Despite implementing changes around reporting, investigating, and documenting allegations of child sexual abuse, the inspector general found that FBI employees often failed to properly report allegations to local law enforcement or report suspected ongoing abuse to local authorities within 24 hours, as required by FBI policy.
In nearly half of the 327 cases reviewed, there was no evidence that FBI employees complied with the requirement to report allegations to local law enforcement. Only 17% were reported with all of the required documentation.
FBI Director Christopher Wray had vowed to prevent such failures from happening again during a 2021 congressional hearing on the Nassar investigation. The FBI said in a statement that ensuring the safety and security of children is a solemn duty and that the bureau is committed to maintaining the public’s trust by implementing necessary improvements.
