One-time female FBI recruits sued the bureau, accusing it of running a “good-old-boy network” at its training academy that discriminates against women, in some cases because of race and disabilities, and sets them up to fail, the New York Times reports. Male instructors at the academy in Quantico, Va., exposed the women beginning in 2015 to a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and inappropriate jokes, the suit charges. One woman said an instructor referred to an African-American female trainee as “spaghetti head,” a reference to her braids. The woman also said training agents made repeated sexual advances.
The lawsuit cites the tactical training that plays out in Hogan’s Alley, the academy’s mock town where hired actors play terrorists and criminals. Trainees practice making dangerous arrests where they use weapons. Many female recruits were kicked out of the academy during this phase more quickly and more often than men were. “The real purpose of the suit is to change the culture of the FBI,” said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, David Shaffer. Sixteen women sued, seven of whom remain at the FBI. They asked for a review of the training evaluation process; $300,000 each for emotional stress; and more female training instructors. The bureau said the number of women applying to be agents had increased from 22 percent in 2017 to 36 percent this year, surpassing the bureau’s goal of 33 percent. Attorney General William Barr has asked the Justice Department to investigate accusations of discrimination, including claims that the FBI academy forced out male potential agents for not being “masculine enough.” Women made up only a fifth of the 13,500 agents as of October, and few women work in the top echelons.