In a damning report released Thursday, the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, revealed that the FBI has continued to have significant failures in investigating reports of child sexual abuse. The report highlighted 42 cases in the past three years that required immediate attention but did not receive appropriate action, including one disturbing case where a victim endured abuse for 15 months after the initial report.

One of the key issues identified in the report was the FBI's lack of investigation, failure to report cases to local law enforcement as required, and non-compliance with the agency's own policies. These problems were, in part, attributed to a lack of staffing, with FBI agents responsible for investigating child sexual abuse handling numerous cases simultaneously. The report stated that this burden resulted in cases "falling through the cracks."

Inspector General Horowitz acknowledged the FBI's efforts to improve its handling of allegations of crimes against children since the Larry Nassar case but pointed out multiple instances where appropriate responses were not carried out. The FBI acknowledged all 11 recommendations put forth by Horowitz, resolving two of the problems even before the report's release. However, the agency argued that most of the highlighted issues were related to paperwork problems.

The report comes three years after the FBI faced criticism for its failure to urgently respond to allegations of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics physician, who was later convicted of abusing more than 100 athletes. Nassar's abusive actions were only halted when allegations were exposed by investigative journalism. The report found that the FBI opened 3,925 cases alleging child sexual abuse from October 2021 to February 2023. Out of the 327 incidents reviewed, 42 were flagged as requiring immediate attention.

One of the major contributing factors to the FBI's shortcomings in addressing child sexual abuse cases was the staffing situation. Despite an increase in the case load over the past three years, the number of agents assigned to crimes against children decreased slightly. The report revealed that only one agent in one office was approved for transfer out of the 15 field offices that proposed reorganizing their staffing levels.

Lawmakers reacted strongly to the report, with some threatening to hold hearings in September. Senator Richard Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee overseeing the FBI, described the report as "damning" and emphasized that Nassar's abuse remains a stain on the bureau. Senator Richard Blumenthal also expressed his dismay, deeming the report "stunning" and condemning the FBI's mishandling of sexual assault and abuse cases against children.

The report includes several recommendations from Inspector General Horowitz, the most significant of which is the need for the FBI to develop and implement a monitoring method to ensure compliance with mandatory reporting of suspect child sexual abuse. The FBI agreed to these recommendations and had already accomplished two of them before the report was finalized.

As the FBI continues to make efforts to improve its procedures, policies, and training, addressing the failures highlighted in this report will be crucial in safeguarding children and ensuring swift and effective responses to cases of child sexual abuse.