Dozens of FBI agents, including the former head of the FBI’s Washington field office, cheated on an open book exam about conducting surveillance on American citizens, according to a Justice Department investigation.
Inspector General Glenn Fine said his limited review found that employees consulted with others while taking the computer exam, used answer sheets and exploited a programming flaw that revealed the answers during the tests. Hundreds of test-takers completed the 90-minute exam in 20 minutes and passed, according to the report.
“We found significant abuses and cheating,” said Fine, who reviewed four FBI offices around the country.
Fine called on the bureau to discipline the agents and come up with a new test to see whether FBI employees understand rules that allow them to conduct surveillance and open files on Americans without evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
The investigation already has cost one high-profile agent his career. Joseph Persichini Jr., assistant director for the Washington field office, retired in December amid questions about the test-taking in his office.
According to the inspector general’s report, Persichini sat in the same room and took notes while his top two managers took the exam together and discussed questions and answers with a bureau attorney. Persichini later used the notes to complete the exam.
Persichini argued that he had not cheated because the notes were permissible for the open-book exam, according to the report.
The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility rejected that argument, and Persichini retired after learning the bureau proposed to discipline him, Fine’s report said.
Persichini, now the executive director of the D.C. Police Foundation, could not be reached for comment Monday.
The two agents who took the test with Persichini have been moved to headquarters while the investigation continues.
At least four employees peeked at the answers online using a computer trick discovered by an agent in the Washington, D.C., cyber crimes office.
The tests were over guidelines created after Sept. 11, 2001, when the agency transformed from primarily a law enforcement agency to a domestic intelligence agency that focuses on national security and law enforcement missions, the report said. Critics complained that the new guidelines expanded the FBI’s investigative powers in ways that could infringe on citizens’ privacy and civil rights. In response, the FBI required that 20,000 agents, analysts and technicians are trained and tested on the new rules.
