FBI Lawyers ‘Inappropriately Opined' on National Security Matters in Bid to Influence Prosecutorial Decision-Making: Report

A crest of the FBI inside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington on Aug. 3, 2007. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

FBI lawyers within the agency’s National Security and Cyber Law Branch (NSCLB) have “inappropriately” weighed in on matters typically reserved for federal prosecutors, according to a report released by the Department of Justice Inspector General’s Office on Sept. 29.

The report (pdf) found that “aggressive” attorneys working for the NSCLB had “inappropriately opined on matters related to sufficiency of evidence, certain charging decisions, and discovery obligations.”