CIA Failures of Addressing Sexual Misconduct Kept “Secret”: Report

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) found systemic shortcomings in the agency’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints, according to a recent internal watchdog report that was classified as “secret,” according to a new report by The Associated Press (AP).

The AP detailed several cases in which CIA workers claimed they were victims of unwanted sexual advances and physical attacks in a story published on Wednesday. While the cases are public knowledge as they were or are currently being litigated in court, the CIA’s response to such complaints were kept in the dark as they were reportedly deemed a potential threat to national security.

The CIA told the AP that the watchdog report, which detailed the problem and case histories of alleged sexual misconduct within the agency, was kept classified in a decision made by its inspector general, which conducted the inquiry. The inspector general did not respond to a request for comment by the AP.

In the latest case to reach public court, a veteran CIA officer, Donald Asquith, was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery after being accused by a CIA contractor of reaching up her skirt and forcibly kissing her in front of her colleagues at his birthday party last year. The woman also claimed that despite rejecting Asquith’s advances, he allegedly kept pulling closer, rubbing her leg without her consent and making inappropriate sexual comments and “grunting noises and thrusting motions.”

Asquith’s trial will start this month. His lawyer, Jon Katz, hung up when the AP called him for comment.

“CIA takes allegations of sexual assault and harassment extremely seriously,” the agency told the AP. The agency also said that within days of the incident involving Asquith, the CIA officer’s contact with the alleged victim was restricted and he retired three months later.

Asquith’s alleged assault of the woman happened days after the CIA promised to crack down on sexual misconduct within its agency.

The recent watchdog report came after an AP investigation, which was reported on in August 2023, found that at least 20 female CIA workers disclosed to authorities and Congress accounts of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they described as a campaign to silence them.

Many of these workers came forward after a CIA officer trainee went to the police in 2022 to accuse a colleague, Ashkan Bayatpour, of assaulting her with a scarf in a stairwell at CIA headquarters. The woman said Bayatpour allegedly also attempted to forcibly kiss her.

Bayatpour, a now-former CIA officer trainee, is facing a second trial on charges stemming from the stairwell incident, in which he admitted to wrapping a scarf around the woman’s neck but he claims it was a joke.

However, the woman testified last year, “He made a face like he was trying to really hurt me.”

Meanwhile, this month, Brian Jeffrey Raymond, a former CIA officer who drugged and sexually abused at least two dozen women he met on dating apps, will be sentenced for his crimes. Prosecutors call him a serial predator who caused “immeasurable” harm while he was stationed overseas between 2006 and 2020, and they are seeking a 30-year sentence for Raymond.

“It is inconceivable that sexual misconduct could be considered a state secret,” Kevin Carroll, an attorney for several women in the CIA who have made complaints, told the AP.

Former CIA case officer Lindsay Moran told the AP that the sexual misconduct that has long been a problem in the male-dominated agency became worse after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when the focus shifted to deploying secret combat units to Afganistan and Iraq.

“They brought their own brand of male toxicity that was like gasoline on the old-boys network that already existed,” Moran said. “National security is used as an excuse to brush these concerns under the carpet.”

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.