WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee Monday criticized the CIA's handling of sexual misconduct allegations in its ranks, saying victims have been deterred from coming forward and were aware of “little to no accountability or punishment for the perpetrators of the assaults or harassment.”
After interviewing more than two dozen whistleblowers behind closed doors and reviewing more than 4,000 pages of records, the House Intelligence Committee concluded the CIA “failed to handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment within its workforce in the professional and uniform manner that such sensitive allegations warrant.”
Though the eight-page report was short on specifics, the bipartisan committee credited the spy agency for its cooperation and pointed to new legislation that provides new reporting options to victims and aims to improve transparency.
“We are absolutely committed to fostering a safe, respectful workplace environment for our employees and have taken significant steps to ensure that, both by bolstering our focus on prevention and strengthening the Agency’s handling of these issues when they arise,” the CIA said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The investigation followed a flood of sexual misconduct complaints at CIA and what several survivors described as a campaign to keep them from speaking out by failing to ensure their anonymity and saying it could harm national security.
An AP investigation last year found the accusations ranged from lewd remarks about sexual fantasies to unwanted touching and sexual assaults. In one case, a senior manager allegedly showed up at a subordinate’s house at night with a firearm and demanded sex.
Last year, a CIA officer trainee was found guilty in Virginia of charges accusing him of assaulting a coworker with a scarf and trying to kiss her inside a stairwell at the agency's headquarters. The victim in that case was terminated earlier this year in what her attorney called a brazen act of retaliation, an accusation the CIA denied.
Still, the stairwell assault prompted a reckoning of sorts within the agency. Some of the alleged incidents went back years and took place as officers were on risky covert missions overseas.
Kevin Carroll, an attorney for the woman assaulted in the stairwell, said the congressional report was “excellent." He called on the agency to “cooperate more with local law enforcement investigations and prosecutions of sex crimes committed by Agency officers.”
“The courageous, truth-telling whistleblower should be proud of all she has done to help other CIA women, sadly at the cost of her own Agency career,” Carroll said.
The congressional inquiry began last spring, with staffers conducting interviews in discreet locations in the U.S. Capitol. The committee pieced together what one committee staffer described to the AP as an “extensive factual record,” which revealed a process that both the chairman and ranking member concluded was “pretty broken."
The staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail what happened behind the scenes in the probe, said the majority and minority were a united front throughout, particularly when meeting with CIA leadership about legislative solutions and the need for a “culture change” at the spy agency.
The committee said it would continue monitoring the agency's handling of sexual misconduct, adding it's “committed to continuing to strengthen the law to address sexual assault and harassment at CIA.”
Mustian reported from Natchitoches, Louisiana. AP writer Joshua Goodman contributed from Miami.
Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
FILE - This April 13, 2016 file photo shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at its headquarters in Langley, Va. The CIA has failed to handle allegations of sexual misconduct within its ranks but has new tools at its disposal thanks to recent legislation intended to improve transparency, a congressional committee concluded in a report released Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Stocks closed sharply higher on Wall Street, erasing their losses for the week, after the government reported a cooldown in hiring last month. For markets that was a welcome sign that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation by slowing the economy with high interest rates might be making some progress. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% Friday, its biggest gain since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%. and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2%. U.S. employers added 175,000 jobs last month, down sharply from a big increase in March. Apple jumped after announcing a mammoth $110 billion stock buyback.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Stocks are rising on Wall Street Friday following a government report showing job growth rose modestly in April, a sign that persistently high interest rates may be starting to take a bigger toll on the world’s largest economy.
The S&P 500 was 1.3% higher in afternoon trading and on track to erase its losses for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 468 points, or 1.2%, as of 2:55 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite added 2.1%.
The nation’s employers added 175,000 jobs last month, down sharply from the blockbuster increase of 315,000 in March. It was also well below the 233,000 gain that economists had predicted. April’s average hourly earnings also rose less than expected. The report suggests that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of rate hikes may finally be cooling the pace of hiring.
“The demand for labor is slowing, which will eventually ease inflation pressures, giving the Fed some leeway to cut rates later this year,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial. “Slower payroll growth and fewer hours worked imply the economy is slowing at a measured pace. This jobs report is consistent with the soft landing narrative.”
Treasury yields in the bond market mostly fell following the jobs report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which lenders use as a guide for pricing home loans, eased to 4.5% from 4.59% late Thursday. The two-year yield, which moves more closely with expectations for the Fed, fell to 4.81% from 4.88%.
The U.S. economy is in a tight spot, where the hope is that it remains strong enough to stay out of a recession but not so strong that it worsens the already stalled progress on inflation. That is essentially the “soft landing” the Fed is hoping to achieve as it tries to cool the rate of inflation to its target of 2%. Inflation at the consumer level stood at 3.5% in March, far below the peak of 9.1% nearly two years ago.
Stubbornly high readings on inflation this year pushed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to say on Wednesday that it will likely take “longer than previously expected” to get enough confidence about inflation to cut interest rates.
“Some of this data coming out of the employment report dampens that narrative a little bit,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. "They want to cut interest rates, but they need more confidence in the inflation data and today's wage data is a little bit more confidence for them.”
The Fed’s main interest rate has been sitting at its highest level since 2001, and cuts would release some pressure on the economy and financial markets.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell 4.2% in April, its first monthly loss since October, as signals of stubbornly high inflation forced traders to ratchet back expectations for when the Fed could begin easing interest rates.
After coming into the year forecasting six or more cuts to rates in 2024, traders are now largely betting on just one or two, if any, according to data from CME Group.
Technology stocks accounted for much of the rally Friday. Apple jumped 7.2% after announcing a mammoth $110 billion stock buyback. The tech giant reported late Thursday its steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the outset of the pandemic.
Microsoft rose 2.1% and Nvidia added 3.6%.
Several companies notched gains after reporting strong quarterly results.
Amgen climbed 12.4% after the biotechnology company gave investors an encouraging update on a potential obesity drug. Live Nation Entertainment added 7.6% after the ticket seller and concert promoter beat analysts’ first-quarter revenue forecasts.
Motorola Solutions was 5% higher after the communications equipment maker raised its profit forecast for the year.
Booking Holdings rose 3.7% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter bookings and revenue. Another online travel company, Expedia Group, didn't fare as well. Its shares slumped 14.6% after the company's latest quarterly results beat Wall Street targets but lowered its full-year bookings guidance because its Vrbo rental unit has been slow to recover from its migration to Expedia’s platform.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX gained 0.6%, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.5% and London’s FTSE 100 added 0.5%.
Markets in Tokyo and mainland China were closed for holidays. The Japanese yen strengthened slightly against the dollar.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Currency traders pass by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 3, 2024. Asian shares were mostly higher Friday ahead of a report on the U.S. jobs market, with several major markets including Tokyo and Shanghai closed for holidays. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 3, 2024. Asian shares were mostly higher Friday ahead of a report on the U.S. jobs market, with several major markets including Tokyo and Shanghai closed for holidays. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader smiles near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
