FBI Whistleblower Testimony Spurs Congressional Action
On May 27, 2008 Congressional Quarterly reported that based on testimony from BY, lawmakers will seek a review from the Government Accountability Office.
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Lawmakers Seek GAO Probe of FBI Staffing Levels
By Keith Perine, CQ Staff
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House and Senate Judiciary committees Tuesday asked the Government Accountability Office to review FBI counterterrorism staffing, in the wake of an FBI agent’s testimony last week about staffing shortfalls.
In an appearance May 21 before the House Judiciary Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, FBI agent BY read an internal FBI e-mail that said the bureau’s International Terrorism Operations Section was operating with only 62 percent of its authorized staff.
BY was one of several current or former agents testifying at the hearing. Both chambers last year passed legislation (, ) to broaden protections for whistleblowers in jobs involving national security, but the legislation has never been reconciled.
The Democratic committee chairmen, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, along with three other lawmakers, wrote Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro asking that GAO “conduct a comprehensive review of the FBI’s human capital management strategy.”
The lawmakers want the GAO to examine the reasons for the high number of vacancies in the international terrorism section and the vacancy rates in other FBI divisions.
They also asked Dodaro to find out what the FBI is doing to reduce staff shortages, and to survey the “attitudes and beliefs of rank-and-file FBI personnel” who have left understaffed FBI offices during the last five years.
Others signing the letter were Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Reps. Robert C. Scott, D-Va., and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.
