House Intelligence Committee finds CIA mishandled sexual assault and harassment claims

CNN —

The CIA has “failed to handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment within its workforce” in a “professional and uniform manner,” and appeared to mete out “little to no accountability or punishment” for perpetrators, according to a House report released on Monday.

The House Intelligence Committee, in an eight-page report summarizing the findings of its year-long investigation into the agency’s handling of sexual harassment and sexual assault, found that there was “confusion and disorder in the process for reporting” allegations. Victims, the report found, were “deterred from coming forward because victims did not have anonymity and were unable to seek confidential assistance.”

Perhaps most damning, the report found that “victims were aware of little to no accountability or punishment for the perpetrators of the assaults or harassment often because of an inadequate investigatory process.”

The CIA for more than a year has been embroiled in allegations by victims that it has “grossly mishandled” their allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Beginning in early 2023, a series of whistleblowers began to share testimony with the congressional intelligence committees. By the end of the year, both the Senate and the House committees had opened investigations, the CIA inspector general had initiated a “special review,” and at least one woman had sued the agency for, she claimed, discouraging her from lodging a criminal complaint against her assailant and attempting to intimidate her from testifying at his trial.

The House committee said that it interviewed 26 whistleblowers during the course of its investigation. It also received 15 staff briefings and reviewed 4,000 pages of documents produced by the