The House intelligence committee is investigating whether the Central Intelligence Agency is mishandling how it responds to sexual assault and harassment in its workforce, according to four people familiar with the matter, Report informs referring to Politico.
At least three female CIA employees have approached the committee since January to tell them that the agency is discouraging women from making sexual misconduct complaints, according to one of the people, attorney Kevin Carroll, who represents the first employee who talked to the committee. He also said the CIA is making it difficult for alleged victims to speak to law enforcement.
The investigation started when one female CIA employee approached the committee in January and said that the agency had not punished a male colleague who had allegedly physically assaulted her and tried to forcibly kiss her repeatedly, according to Carroll and a copy of the complaint the woman made to local law enforcement.
She said that she quickly reported the attack to numerous offices at the CIA, but nothing was done.
She also said she was told by officials in the CIA’s security office that if she reported the incident to law enforcement, they would not protect her anymore from the alleged assailant. She said she was warned that moving forward with the allegation could end her career at the agency, according to Carroll and the complaint.
He said the CIA also threatened the women who were going to Congress with adverse consequences if they spoke out.
The CIA denied that the agency had tried to prevent the women from speaking to Congress. “This idea that there’s some threatening [of] officers who want to talk to HPSCI, that’s not true,” said the senior CIA official, referring to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “We haven’t threatened or blocked anybody.”
Carroll said his client has told him that as many as 54 women at the CIA over the past decade have said they were been victims of sexual assault or misconduct by colleagues, and that their cases were improperly handled.