07/19/01 BY LENNY SAVINO KRT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- A day after the FBI announced it couldn't
account for 449 guns and 184 computers, the Senate Judiciary Committee
yesterday aired new and embarrassing disclosures by bureau whistle-blowers
alleging corruption in the FBI's senior ranks. "There are some very, very
serious management problems at the FBI," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
who chairs the committee. Republicans joined in. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
called the gun and computer losses, which FBI officials attributed to sloppy
record keeping, "simply inexcusable." Yesterday's criticisms, the latest
of many alleging FBI gaffes, come at a convenient time for reforms: between
the regime of former director Louis Freeh, who stepped down last month,
and the confirmation hearings for Robert S. Mueller III, President Bush's
nominee to replace Freeh. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who ordered a
Justice Department investigation of the FBI's missing weapons and computers
Tuesday, called the situation "serious" at a news conference yesterday.
Ashcroft is moving on several fronts to rein in the FBI's tradition of
independence from the Justice Department. Four present and former agents
told the Senate panel that the FBI has suffered from what they called a
"culture of arrogance" and blasted the promotion and internal disciplinary
systems as corrupt and unfair. John E. Roberts, unit chief in the FBI Office
of Professional Responsibility, which investigates employee misconduct,
told lawmakers that senior agents had covered up their mistakes in the
1992 Ruby Ridge, Idaho, shooting in which the suspect's wife and son, 14,
were killed. A follow-up investigation found that "crucial interviews"
with senior agents directing the Ruby Ridge assault were never done, Roberts
said, despite "significant" allegations of their misconduct. At the same
time, the bureau came down hard on Ruby Ridge's junior agents. Roberts
said he initiated charges against seven senior agents for misconduct, including
destroying an "after action report" detailing the FBI's mistakes. The Justice
Department in January dismissed criminal and misconduct charges against
all but one of the senior agents. "I find this conclusion to be outrageous,"
Roberts testified. "And I believe anyone who reviews this matter will find
the conclusions alarming." The agents said members of the Senior Executive
Service, the top rank of federal managers, traditionally receive little
or no punishment for misconduct for which junior agents would have been
suspended or fired. They cited an October 1997 case in which more than
a dozen senior FBI agents who attended a retirement dinner for former Deputy
Directory Larry Potts charged their expenses to an "Integrity in Law Enforcement"
conference they'd made up. Participants received mild written reprimands
-- far less than junior agents would have expected. "Potts-gate" as the
incident became known in the FBI, was detailed in a 1999 investigation,
revealed to lawmakers yesterday. Investigators concluded that the FBI tolerated
a double standard of discipline. Then-director Freeh responded by eliminating
the tradition by which only executive-level agents reviewed misconduct
allegations against other senior executives. Former agent John Werner,
now a general contractor in Cary, N.C., testified that the bureau's Career
Development Program contributes to the agency's problems. It requires candidates
for senior management to make at least six career moves, most requiring
family relocations, including at least three tours of duty at FBI headquarters
in Washington. "This gives headquarters senior management a stranglehold
over these rising agents," Werner testified, "requiring absolute allegiance
to the SES staff." Werner said a 1998 internal survey showed agents regarded
headquarters duty as "clerical, devoid of supervisory responsibility" and
irrelevant to their future assignments. Testifying on the matter of the
missing equipment, Kenneth Senser, the FBI's deputy assistant director
in charge of internal security, acknowledged that no single official was
responsible for keeping track of weapons or computers containing classified
information. GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the
Finance Committee, called for the Treasury Department -- which includes
the Secret Service -- to account for its guns and secure computers. Rep.
John Dingell (D-Mich.) said he wants the General Accounting Office, Congress'
investigative and auditing arm, to check every federal agency to see if
any other weapons are missing. "If our premiere law enforcement agency,
the FBI, is so lax in keeping track of its guns, I shudder to think about
what other abuses may exist at other federal agencies," said Dingell, top
Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. The Associated Press contributed
to this report.