CIA failed to properly deal with sexual assault claims among its own employees with 'little to no accountability or punishment', House intelligence committee report finds

The CIA failed to properly deal with sexual assault allegations among its own staff, according to a House intelligence committee report. 

The final report, obtained by Politico, revealed there was 'little to no accountability or punishment for confirmed perpetrators', and that there was 'confusion and disorder' in the reporting process. 

The report also found that victims did not have anonymity, and were deterred from reporting sexual assaults, and that the CIA had an 'inconsistent approach to, or a lack of, timely coordination with law enforcement.'

The inquiry, which began in January 2023 after a female CIA employee alleged she had been attacked and sexually assaulted by a fellow officer, saw investigators trawl through 4,000 pages of documents and interview 26 whistleblowers inside the agency. 

On top of this, two oversight hearings were held. The committee wrote in the report's executive summary: 'Over the course of the investigation, the committee discovered that CIA failed to handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment within its workforce in the professional and uniform manner that such sensitive allegations warrant.'

Ashkan Bayatpour (pictured) was convicted of sex attack on a female CIA colleague

William J Burns (pictured) is the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

The final report, obtained by Politico , revealed there was 'little to no accountability or punishment for confirmed perpetrators'

The report comes after a female whistleblower who was sexually assaulted in a stairwell at Langley, the CIA's headquarters, was fired from the agency, which disputed her account as 'factually inaccurate.'

This is despite the perpetrator, 39-year-old Ashkan Bayatpour being convicted in August 2023 of attacking the trainee CIA officer in July 2022 by coming up behind her with a scarf in the secluded area and forcibly trying to kiss her, being allowed to stay at the agency for several months after his conviction. 

She alleged in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the agency that it retaliated against her for reporting the assault by giving her harsher performance reviews and 'slut shaming' her by improperly releasing her personal information. 

The 36-year-old did not make it through the agency´s clandestine officer training program known as 'the Farm' and, unlike many of her classmates, was not hired into another job. 

The woman's attorney, Kevin Carroll, told the AP that the CIA has now 'unlawfully ended a young woman's career only because she had the moral courage, lacking in her managers, to stand up and be a witness about her sexual assault.'

'The agency's festering workplace sexual violence problem,' Carroll said, 'is now harming the retention of young women who won´t put up with it any longer.'

In her testimony to a Virginia jury last summer, the woman recounted the moment when Bayatpour allegedly tightened the scarf around her neck and tried to kiss her against her will.

'He made a face like he was trying to really hurt me,' she testified. 'That face, that´s what stays with me to this day. That´s the hardest part.'

The report comes after a female whistleblower who was sexually assaulted in a stairwell at Langley, the CIA's headquarters (pictured), was fired from the agency

Bayatpour's conviction led to a wave of sexual assault allegations coming to light, with at least two-dozen women at the agency have come forward to complain about sexual assaults, unwanted touching and coercion

Bayatpour acknowledged wrapping the scarf around the woman in the stairwell but insisted his actions were intended in jest during a 40-minute walk together. The incident, his attorney said, was 'a joke that didn´t land the way it was intended to land.'

Bayatpour, a 39-year-old Alabama native and former Navy intelligence officer, remained employed at CIA for several months after he was convicted in August of misdemeanor assault and battery, sentenced to six months probation and ordered to surrender any firearms.

Bayatpour's conviction led to a wave of sexual assault allegations coming to light, with at least two-dozen women have come forward to complain about sexual assaults, unwanted touching and coercion.

One even claimed that a senior manager showed up to a subordinate's home and demanded sex while brandishing a gun.

The women allege they are fighting against a campaign set up by the spy agency to silence them - warning that it would wreck their careers and endanger national security.

MailOnline has contacted the CIA for comment.