The FBI has gotten better at handling confidential informants, the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General concludes in a new report.
The full report is classified, but an executive summary asserts that since a scathing 2006 review, "the FBI has made substantial changes in its management of confidential human sources."
The initial May 2006 report described the FBI’s handling of Katrina Leung, one of the FBI’s highest paid counterintelligence assets who allegedly also worked for the People’s
Republic of China. Leung had a longtime affair with her FBI handler, Special Agent James J. Smith. The OIG found the FBI was "aware of serious counterintelligence concerns about Leung, but did little to follow up on the warning signals."
Since then, the new report notes that "the FBI established an electronic record-keeping system and database designed to facilitate more meaningful and objective analytic reviews of sources and detailed supervisory reviews of source handling. In response to our recommendations, the FBI has also undertaken critical agent, ethics, and source handling training."
"Overall, we believe the FBI has made excellent progress in resolving the major concerns that led to the OIG’s recommendations," the new report states.