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By: FEDweek StaffAn IG report has raised concerns about the FBI’s use, during undercover operations, of pictures of young women working for the agency as “minor children or sex workers to entice sexual predators on various social media websites.”
A “management alert” report says that during an investigation into other issues, the IG discovered that special agents sometimes used such photographs of employees who were not undercover agents in undercover operations, “potentially placing them in danger of becoming the victims of criminal offenses.”
“In the instances we reviewed in connection with the OIG investigation, the employees’ faces were blurred and the employees were clothed. However, the SA who was the subject of the OIG’s investigation did not document which employees were used, obtain written consent from the employees, document the websites on which the photographs were posted, or document when the photographs were posted,” it said.
Further, it said, agent did not inform the support staff employees’ supervisors that the employees were involved in undercover operations, and advised the employees who provided photographs “to not tell anyone, including their supervisors” and did not document how the photos were obtained.
“Additionally, the FBI had no documentation or information regarding whether the photographs still appear on the websites or how long the photographs appeared on the websites, during which time the photographs could have been—and potentially could still be— downloaded, copied, or further disseminated,” it said.
The report said the agency should formally decide whether it will allow its employees to be used in models in that way and that if it does, such a policy should include requirements for written consent by the employees after fully informing them of the “risks surrounding the use of their photographs for online undercover operations”; upper management approval; guidelines regarding the appearance of the employees; and documentation of the use of the photographs.
Management responded that it “determine which policies require adjustment, drafting new language to establish the needed guidelines” and will ensure that personnel who engage in undercover operations are aware of the new guidelines and are trained on the requirements.
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