A Review of FBI Security Programs

to single out the FBI for criticism. The security programs in most agencies to which we
turned to develop a best-practices model have resulted from radical restructuring made
necessary as one after another agency discovered that its core had been penetrated by
disloyal employees working for foreign interests. Had the FBI learned from the disasters
these agencies experienced, perhaps Hanssen would have been caught sooner or would have
been deterred from violating his oath to the Bureau and his country. But it is equally true
that, had those agencies learned from disturbing patterns of espionage across the Intelligence
Community, other treacherous moles might have been caught or deterred. Consequently, in
addition to the particular recommendations about Bureau policies we make in our Report,
we also make a more global recommendation: a system should be established whereby
security lapses in particular entities lead to improved security measures throughout the entire
Intelligence Community.
In sum, we do not mean to gainsay the steps the Bureau has taken since Hanssen’s
arrest to safeguard national security information. Many of those steps have been significant,
as has the Bureau’s cooperation as we conducted our review. However, before the Bureau
can remedy deficiencies in particular security programs, it must recognize structural
deficiencies in the way it approaches security and institutional or cultural biases that make
it difficult for the FBI to accept security as a core function.
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