Feds didn't act on polygraphs indicating child abuse

Washington --

The nation's spy satellite agency failed to notify authorities when some employees and contractors confessed during lie detector tests to crimes such as child molestation, an intelligence inspector general has concluded.

In other cases, the National Reconnaissance Office delayed reporting criminal admissions obtained during security clearance polygraphs, possibly jeopardizing evidence in investigations or even the safety of children, according to the inspector general report released Tuesday, almost two years after McClatchy's reporting raised similar concerns.

In one instance, one of the agency's top lawyers told colleagues not to bother reporting confessions by a government contractor of child molestation, viewing child pornography and sexting with a minor, the inquiry by the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed.

"Doubt we have enough to interest the FBI," the agency's then-assistant general counsel told another official in an e-mail, adding, "The alleged victim is fourteen years old and fully capable of calling the police herself." Neither party in the e-mail was identified by name.

After the other official insisted on reporting it, the confession was eventually investigated and it turned out that the girl was still in contact with the contractor who'd confessed to the crimes. It took almost five weeks for the Department of Justice to be informed.

'Not legally obligated'

When confronted with the lapses by the inspector general's investigators, the National Reconnaissance Office's then-top lawyers said they "were not legally obligated ... to report child sexual abuse to DOJ or law enforcement organizations because child abuse is a state crime, not a federal crime," the report said.

"Therefore they generally chose not to report those crimes unless the admissions also involved federal crimes such as possession of child pornography."

The conclusions confirm an investigation by McClatchy in July 2012 that found law enforcement officials were not being told of some criminal confessions obtained during the National Reconnaissance Office's security clearance polygraphs.

"It's hard to understand why the NRO failed to report crimes involving children immediately," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who demanded the inquiry after reading McClatchy's stories. "... The NRO showed a complete lack of common sense in failing to require reporting of serious state crimes of this sort."

The inspector general said that as a result of McClatchy's reporting and congressional interest, the spy agency had improved its reporting of crimes.

Other problems

McClatchy, however, learned that a second inquiry of the same polygraph division recently documented other problems. The National Reconnaissance Office's inspector general found "significant shortcomings" in the agency's polygraph program that it says "may result in potential negative national security implications originating at the NRO."

That inspector general declined to immediately provide a copy of the unclassified and recently completed report, but McClatchy was able to obtain details of its conclusions.

The report quotes an NRO official as saying the polygraph program was "terribly broken" and would require a "paradigm shift" to address shortcomings. The official added that the "current status of the NRO polygraph program is bleak."