Investigators at Buzzfeed.com reported last week that the Central Intelligence Agency has been secretly amassing evidence of sex crimes involving children committed by its agents for at least the past 14 years but has “resisted prosecution” for fear of revealing “state secrets.” Buzzfeed obtained this information through freedom of information act requests, leading to the shocking discovery.
The CIA “has secretly amassed credible evidence that at least 10 of its employees and contractors committed sexual crimes involving children,” Buzzfeed reported after obtaining secret inspector general documents from the agency.
“Though most of these cases were referred to US attorneys for prosecution, only one of the individuals was ever charged with a crime,” the expose continues.
“Prosecutors sent the rest of the cases back to the CIA to handle internally, meaning few faced any consequences beyond the possible loss of their jobs and security clearances. That marks a striking deviation from how sex crimes involving children have been handled at other federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration. CIA insiders say the agency resists prosecution of its staff for fear the cases will reveal state secrets,” the report adds.
WATCH: Candace Owens Discusses Bombshell CIA Report
Buzzfeed also noted that the acts were severely perverse in nature, yet for some reason largely not charged:
One employee had sexual contact with a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old. He was fired. A second employee purchased three sexually explicit videos of young girls, filmed by their mothers. He resigned. A third employee estimated that he had viewed up to 1,400 sexually abusive images of children while on agency assignments. The records do not say what action, if any, the CIA took against him. A contractor who arranged for sex with an undercover FBI agent posing as a child had his contract revoked.
Only one of the individuals cited in these documents was charged with a crime. In that case, as in the only previously known case of a CIA staffer being charged with child sexual crimes, the employee was also under investigation for mishandling classified material.
On the condition of anonymity, Buzzfeed spoke with a former CIA official, “who reviewed the declassified inspector general reports, characterized the concern from CIA lawyers as, ‘We can’t have these people testify, they may inadvertently be forced to disclose sources and methods.'”
That official also “noted the agency has had a problem with child abuse images stretching back decades, said they understand the need to protect ‘sensitive and classified equities.'”
He added, “for crimes of a certain class whether it’s an intelligence agency or not, you just have to figure out how to prosecute these people.”