The FBI conducts an annual employee survey to determine internal attitudes about how the bureau is viewed by its own people. The survey this year is an eye-opener.

An annual survey of FBI employees found a sharp decline in confidence in bureau leadership amid a series of scandals, results published Sunday indicate. Although pride in working at the FBI remained about the same, faith in the "honesty and integrity" of senior executives plummeted – going from an average employee rating of more than four out of five in 2017 to 3.5 out of five this year at the FBI's 56 field offices. Workers at FBI headquarters in Washington reported a slightly less dramatic erosion of faith in leaders' honesty. The survey data was collected in February and March amid significant internal uncertainty about the fate of top leaders including then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and FBI agent Peter Strzok. ... Support for the director [Christopher Wray]'s "vision and ideas" tanked from about 4.5 out of five in 2016 to about 3.5 in 2018 at the bureau's field offices, with only slightly less dramatic drop at FBI headquarters.

Most FBI employees are dedicated public servants who do a very difficult job very well. There is great pride in working for a government agency tasked with so many vital jobs.

But it's obvious to the employees – if not to the media – that something is terribly, horribly wrong at the top of the bureau. Partisanship, incompetence, intrigue – these have no place in such a powerful law enforcement agency. Employees, regardless of their political beliefs, know that the bureau cannot perform its mandates when the top leadership is corrupt.

The continuing revelations that cast a shadow across the behavior of FBI leadership will put even more doubts in the minds of FBI employees. You have to wonder how badly the bureau has been damaged and how it can be fixed. Perhaps only a complete housecleaning at the top can begin to address the malaise and loss of faith by employees in this once proud government agency.