New CIA workplace assault case emerges as spy agency shields extent of sexual misconduct in ranks

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press

New CIA workplace assault case emerges as spy agency shields extent of sexual misconduct in ranks
The Associated Press

September 11, 2024, 10:44 AM

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — At an impromptu party in the office to celebrate his 50th birthday, a veteran CIA officer got drunk, reached up a colleague’s skirt and forcibly kissed her in front of stunned co-workers, prosecutors alleged in the latest case of sexual misconduct to spill from the spy agency into a public court.

An Associated Press investigation found Donald Asquith’s alleged assault last year happened just days after the CIA promised to crack down on sexual misconduct in its ranks — even as the agency has refused to disclose details on the extent of the problem. A recent 648-page internal watchdog report that found systemic shortcomings in the CIA’s handling of such complaints was classified as “secret,” shielded as a potential threat to national security. ... “It is inconceivable that sexual misconduct could be considered a state secret,” said Kevin Carroll, an attorney who represents several women in the agency who have made complaints.

The watchdog report followed an earlier AP investigation that found at least two dozen women in the CIA came forward to authorities and Congress with accounts of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they described as a campaign to silence them. (1)

Many were emboldened by a CIA officer trainee who went to police in 2022 after the agency failed to take action against a colleague she accused of assaulting her with a scarf in a stairwell at CIA headquarters. Some of those women now say they have faced retaliation, including the victim of the stairwell attack, who was terminated less than six months after suing the agency. (2)

{snip}

(1) https://apnews.com/article/cia-sexual-harassment-discrimination-abuse-spying-8ca2f3a4b41c9d6f3da34364aea42dad

(2) https://apnews.com/article/cia-sexual-misconduct-harassment-spying-whistleblower-49b949a293f51416f51dca9daa9b6180

Read more: https://wtop.com/national/2024/09/new-cia-workplace-assault-case-emerges-as-spy-agency-shields-extent-of-sexual-misconduct-in-ranks/

[Think. Again.]

1. No wonder garland is in hiding.

[C0RI0LANUS]

2. Remarkable this story emerges nationally on 9/11, one of CIA's darkest days.

Residents of northern Virginia and Wash DC are already familiar with some of these cases because they are tried in Fairfax County, VA.

Link:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/circuit/

[Solly Mack]

3. Shocker.

Snort.

[C0RI0LANUS]

4. CIA vets employees with polygraphs and TS-SSBI investigations. Still they must improve.

And D/CIA William Burns is doing yeoman's work flying all over the Middle East and Europe for Pres. Biden to get the hostages released and counter Russian influence in the Balkans.