For over a year, courts in northern Virginia and Washington, DC, have been discreetly considering allegations of sexual assault at the CIA. These cases provide glimpses into what several sources describe as a pervasive cultural issue within the intelligence agency.
Convictions for minor assault have been handed down in two separate trials in Virginia. For drugging and sexually abusing numerous women, a former CIA officer was sentenced to thirty years in prison by a federal judge in Washington, DC in September.
According to what AWN has learnt, the notoriously secretive spy agency is still dealing with other complaints behind the scenes, including one that led to the firing of an officer.
Multiple female whistleblowers have recently appeared before congressional oversight committees to discuss additional claims of sexual harassment and assault at the CIA in a closed-door setting.
Complaint handling at the CIA was severely flawed, according to a 600-page report from the agency’s inspector general and an independent assessment by investigators from Congress earlier this year.
A year ago, the CIA began a massive reform initiative in reaction to what some victims have referred to as the “Me Too” moment within the organization. As part of a larger effort to ensure that CIA officers can report crimes without putting their cover or classified information at risk, measures such as creating a specific office to handle claims of sexual harassment and assault and recruiting a law enforcement officer to assist with investigations have been taken.
Furthermore, the CIA has just launched an internal survey to better determine the extent of its sexual harassment issue.
Preliminary findings indicate that the CIA may have a somewhat higher rate of sexual violence in the workplace compared to the national average; nevertheless, this percentage is substantially lower than that of the US military, another major national security institution that has had issues with sexual assault.
Results were described to AWN by various sources, including CIA COO Maura Burns, and they showed that 28% of respondents had experienced a sexually hostile work environment while employed at CIA, with 9% indicating that it had happened in the last year.
Seven percent of people who took the survey said they were victims of sexual assault or unwelcome sexual contact at some point in their time working for the agency; one percent said it happened within the past year.
That’s in stark contrast to the 6.8% of female service members who reported experiencing unwelcome sexual contact in 2023 and the less than 0.5% who reported similar incidents in previous years.
Within the agency, responses to the poll were divided. Some government officials saw it as proof that the CIA, and the federal government more broadly, may be less troubled now than in the past.
The survey does reveal that the CIA still has work to do to change its “work hard, play hard” culture, which has for far too long had inconsistently enforced prohibitions against unwanted sexual conduct, according to numerous victims and their advocates, current CIA officials who spoke to AWN on the condition of anonymity, and other sources.
An experienced CIA official expressed his belief that the cultural component would be the most challenging and time-consuming. I wouldn’t call it the ‘good ole boy’ network because half of our employees are women, but I do believe that there is a gender gap in how seriously people are held to account for and punished for inappropriate conduct.
“When police officers approach me, they often ask, ‘Why did this individual succeed while another failed?'” “It’s real,” the cop remarked.
Serious accusations leveled against the CIA
There are significant limitations that make the survey’s results difficult to rely on too severely, even though it implies that the CIA may have a comparable rate of workplace sexual violence to the national average over the years (5.6% of US women report experiencing some type of sexual violence by a perpetrator related to the workplace during their lifetime).
The survey was entirely optional, and just 25% of agency employees took the time to fill it out. People that voluntarily fill out surveys are more likely to have strong opinions about the topic, which could lead to exaggerated results.
According to Laura Palumbo, communications director for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, employees may be hesitant to participate in such surveys if they do not believe their anonymity will be respected. This could lead to underreporting of sexual assault and harassment, according to experts.
The results are being made public internally at the same time that the CIA is dealing with a small number of very serious accusations.
A federal complaint that AWN acquired and three persons familiar with the incident state that a younger female contractor claimed that a senior officer had shown up at her house brandishing a gun and demanding sexual relations, before allegedly threatening her with a knife on CIA property. Two of the sources have confirmed that official’s dismissal from the agency.
According to various sources including a letter obtained by AWN from one of the alleged victims, who wrote to the US ambassador in that nation, another woman claims to be “one of at least five self-identified sexual assault victims” of an officer who was stationed in Europe until very recently. One of the sources has stated that no reports of physical violence have been made.
The officer is currently facing allegations of intentionally infecting his claimed victims with an STD. This could be a serious crime in Virginia if it can be proven that the diseased individual had “the intent to transmit the infection.” The CIA is also investigating the matter.
The letter and another individual with knowledge of the situation indicate that some of the claimed attacks may have occurred in Virginia and have been reported to the state’s law enforcement. Until the investigation’s findings are known, that individual is still employed by the CIA.
The situation is being taken very seriously by senior CIA officials, including COO Maura Burns and director Bill Burns (no relation), who have publicly stated their concerns.