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0U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) are again pressing the FBI to strengthen their investigations into child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Today, Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn launched a bipartisan inquiry with U.S. Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, urging them to address chronic understaffing in positions aimed at addressing reported child sexual abuse and exploitation.
In September 2023, Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn first launched an inquiry into the matter, but as they note, they have yet to receive responses from the Department of Justice.
Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn’s inquiry comes after the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a new reportlast August of the FBI’s handling of tips of hands-on sex offenses against children, including a review of FBI case files for hundreds of incidents involving hands-on sex offenses against a child.
“More than a year ago, Senator Blackburn and I wrote to express concern about reports of chronic understaffing among the FBI field office teams responsible for processing and investigating allegations of child sexual abuse,”Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn wrote to AG Garland and FBI Director Wray. “These shortages reportedly force staff to manage heavy caseloads, allowing them insufficient time and resources to thoroughly investigate and respond to the numerous cases that come before them.”
According to the August report, in 47% of the incident case files reviewed, OIG found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements to state and local law enforcement; in 50%, OIG found no evidence of compliance with mandatory reporting to social service agencies.
“In response to these findings, the OIG report suggested the FBI develop an enterprise-wide strategy that addresses the rising number of crimes against children cases and ensures crimes against children agents have appropriate support and resources to manage their assigned caseloads,” Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn continued. “We write today seeking information on the available resources dedicated to crimes against children as well as information regarding any improvements the FBI has made since the OIG report.”
Sen. Ossoff continues working to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
Last May, Sen. Ossoff’s bipartisan REPORT Act with Sen. Blackburn became law, which — for the first time — required websites and social media platforms to report crimes involving Federal trafficking and enticement of children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Last January, Sens. Ossoff and Chuck Grassley (R-IA)’s bipartisan Preventing Child Sex Abuse Act of 2023 was signed into law to strengthen Federal protections against the sexual abuse of children, including online exploitation.
In a December 2023 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ossoff pressed FBI Director Christopher Wray to address sextortion schemes targeting children online amidst a reported 700% increase in their frequency since 2021 in Georgia.
Click here to read Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn’s inquiry.
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