NSA ‘Deputy Chief’ Sent Sexually Explicit, Racist Emails To Women: Report

A senior official of the National Security Agency (NSA) was accused of sending sexually and racially explicit chat messages to women in his department, according to an inspector general report obtained by Buzzfeed.

The name of the official in question was redacted from one of the reports the publication procured after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the NSA.

The report, titled "Misuse of Government Communications Systems and Conduct Unbecoming,” detailed abusive behavior by the official, who was identified only as “Deputy Chief,” in incidents that took place in 2012.

That year, the NSA’s Office of the Inspector General received a complaint from an employee of the department which alleged the Deputy Chief, whom the employee characterized as a “pathological social deviant” had sexually harassed four women.

The report found Deputy Chief would question women about their marital and parental status during job interviews and frequently embarrass them in staff meetings and in front of their supervisors. In one instance he even used an offensive, sexual acronym targeting a specific woman in an email and on another occasion, included a “racially-charged expression.”

One of the victims of the abuse complained to higher authorities after the accused made her feel uncomfortable by massaging her neck and shoulders.

According to the report, the Deputy Chief also engaged in a sexual relationship with at least one woman he was tasked with supervising in a government contract.

The investigation further revealed the accused “send himself sexually suggestive and inappropriate emails” using his supervisor’s NSA email account. The Deputy Chief’s “behavior calls into question his judgment and reliability and therefore his ability to effectively function as an Agency leader,” the report stated.

On interrogation, the Deputy Chief explained his act of sending two inappropriate emails from his female supervisor’s account was meant as a lesson to his female colleague “to lock her computer.” The inspector general said in the report he did not find his assertion credible.

The investigative report concluded while the Deputy Chief violated NSA rules by using “words that denigrate individuals, used offensive language, and engaged in other conduct that could affect his subordinates’ work performance or otherwise impact the work environment” there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that he sexually harassed women "by making repeated offensive or unwelcome comments, advances, remarks, touching, or questions of a sexual nature, thereby creating a hostile work environment for them.”

The report found several women had spoken out against the unnamed official but no action was ever taken against him.

Despite being reprimanded once, in 2011, and receiving a letter for counseling, after the Deputy Chief sent sexually explicit chat messages over the NSA’s highly classified communications network, the report found he returned to his old ways soon.

“Subsequent to being disciplined, he did not cease his misconduct,” the report said. Instead, the accused “simply stopped misusing chat and relied solely on email to engage in inappropriate written exchanges with females, because he believed it was not monitored and he would not be caught.”