FBI director James Comey said Thursday the agency has "severely disciplined" an agent for "improper conduct" during the botched Ted Stevens investigation and has provided refresher training for the entire workforce as result of the case, including about how agents must conduct themselves during investigations.
Comey, during questioning by Sen. Lisa Murkowski during a Senate subcommittee hearing, did not name the agent or describe the misconduct or the discipline.
Undetermined is whether the agent is Mary Beth Kepner, the lead agent in the investigation, who was still employed with the agency at least as late as June 2012, despite the release of a report by the Justice Department earlier that year that found she had erred, including by failing to properly document interviews of witnesses on numerous occasions. Those interviews are important: Material that could possibly help the defense must be turned over to defendant's lawyers.
An official with the FBI office in Anchorage, asked on Thursday whether Kepner still worked there and whether she was the agent disciplined, said he could not comment.
"In response to your questions about the employment status of a specific FBI employee, the FBI generally does not release personnel information," said Kevin Donovan, assistant special agent in charge.
Kepner did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this article.
Kepner's errors were significant. Sometimes, statements that should have been documented during interviews were instead omitted. Sometimes, additions were made to statements favorable to the government's case, the report found.
After a judge ordered Kepner to turn over all the interviews, it was discovered that Kepner had backdated two of the written documents by more than two years, making it appear as if they were prepared the day after the interview.
In interviews with the Justice Department, Kepner initially denied under oath that she had done this. But later she said she was "disorganized" and "overwhelmed" and lost official accounts of interviews.
The problem of misconduct came to light after allegations were made by whistleblower Chad Joy in late 2008. Joy, an agent in the FBI's sweeping political corruption probe, was gone from the bureau by 2010.
Joy alleged widespread misconduct by the prosecution team and Kepner, including that the team had conspired to withhold evidence from the defense.
Prosecutors indicted Ted Stevens in 2008 as he was up for re-election and he was found guilty later that year on seven counts of making false statements on ethics forms to hide gifts and favors, shortly before he lost his longheld seat in a close race against now-Sen. Mark Begich. But after Joy's allegations surfaced, it was later found the prosecution team didn't disclose evidence and made false representations to the the judge, validating Stevens' claims of prosecutorial misconduct. The guilty verdicts were thrown out. Stevens died in a plane crash in Alaska in 2010.
In her questioning on Thursday, Murkowski said it had been two years since she'd been updated about an internal review of Joy's allegations. Murkowski said former FBI director Robert Mueller had told her in 2012 that a report on employee misconduct was pending. Murkowski wanted to know if that report was completed.
Comey, who became FBI director last fall, told Murkowski he'd recently been briefed in detail on the matter and that the Office of Professional Responsibility had completed its review. He said he was certain something had been written up -- there are always written reports when disciplinary action is taken -- and that he would get back to Murkowski with an answer.
Comey said the "broad remedial work" launched by the bureau as a result of the missteps included training that focused on "discovery obligations," the process of one side seeking information from the other side before a trial.
Responding to another question from Murkowski, Comey also said he didn't know whether anything had been done to recognize Joy for his whistleblowing.
Comey said "whistleblowers are essential to a healthy institution" and that he has a practice of calling agents and people around the country when they've done good work. "I will follow up and find out where this fellow is because maybe it's worth a phone call from me," Comey said.