Introduction
In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report on the Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Handling of Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Former USA Gymnastics Physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar (OIG Nassar Report). That report recommended, among other improvements, that the FBI clarify its mandatory reporting policy regarding allegations of crimes against children. As a result of the weaknesses discovered at the FBI during the OIG’s review, in November 2021 the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee provided a letter to the Inspector General requesting additional audits be undertaken of the FBI’s efforts to investigate and prevent sex crimes against children, including an audit to evaluate the FBI’s compliance with the new training and policy changes and the effectiveness of those changes in addressing the problems identified in the OIG Nassar Report. This audit was conducted to follow up on the deficiencies found in the OIG Nassar Report and to address the Congressional request. Our audit focuses on the FBI’s handling of tips of hands-on sex offenses against children to determine whether the issues identified in the OIG Nassar Report were isolated incidents or indicative of more widespread deficiencies. At the time of this audit, several recommendations made in the OIG Nassar Report had not yet been closed. While the FBI implemented several policy updates and additional guidance, some policies with draft updates that were responsive to recommendations had not yet been finalized and therefore were not tested as a part of this audit.
FBI Jurisdiction and Mandatory Reporting Requirements
The Department’s fiscal year (FY) 2022-2026 Strategic Plan emphasizes its obligation to protect children from crime and exploitation. The FBI is the DOJ’s primary component for investigating sex crimes against children. The FBI’s crimes against children and human trafficking (CAC/HT) program investigates crimes such as child abductions, sexual contact offenses against children, sexual exploitation of children, trading and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), production and manufacturing of CSAM, possessors of CSAM, child sex trafficking, child sex tourism, sextortion, and international parental kidnapping.
During our audit, the FBI’s Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Unit (CACHTU) provided a listing of all Sentinel cases opened in its CAC/HT program during the scope of our review between October 1, 2021, and February 26, 2023. The FBI does not track which investigations involve hands-on sex offenses against children, so it could not identify the investigations in the listing which involved hands-on sex offenses against children. However, the FBI identified seven case classification codes that include the investigation of hands-on sex offenses against children. While these case classifications include hands-on sex offenses against children, the investigations may not find evidence of hands-on offenses and may instead reveal evidence of other offenses managed by the CAC/HT program, or no offenses at all. Similarly, investigations into the other offenses managed by the CAC/HT program may reveal evidence of hands-on sex offenses against children. During our audit period, the FBI opened 3,925 cases from the seven case classifications that the FBI uses to investigate hands-on sex offenses against a child and 4,240 cases from other case classifications managed by the CAC/HT program that typically do not include hands-on sex offenses against a child. In Figure 1, we identify the five case classifications for which the FBI opened the greatest number of new cases from the CAC/HT case classifications (including the one relevant Indian Country case classification) that (1) include hands-on sex offenses against children and (2) do not include hands-on sex offenses against children.