CIA in Congress' crosshairs over alleged mishandling of sex assault cases: Politico

NEW YORK, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House intelligence committee is investigating whether the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is mishandling how it responds to sexual assault and harassment in its workforce, Politico on Friday cited four people familiar with the matter.

"At least three female CIA employees have approached the committee since January to tell them that the agency is discouraging women from making sexual misconduct complaints, according to one of the people, attorney Kevin Carroll, who represents the first employee who talked to the committee," said the report. The attorney also said the CIA is making it difficult for alleged victims to speak to law enforcement.

The allegations led committee chair Mike Turner and ranking member Jim Himes to send a letter last week to CIA director Bill Burns to ask for the agency's help looking into the issues, according to another of the four people, who was granted anonymity to discuss the private letter. Burns responded within 24 hours and pledged full cooperation, according to a senior CIA official.

Carroll said his client told him that as many as 54 women at the CIA over the past decade said they had been victims of sexual assault or misconduct by colleagues, and that their cases were improperly handled. Politico could not independently verify that assertion.

"This is the CIA's Me Too moment," said Carroll, who is a partner at the firm Hughes Hubbard &Reed LLP and is representing the victim pro bono.