IG Horowitz: FBI spends $42M per year on informants

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz appears at the launch of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

The DOJ watchdog is highlighting the elevated level of spending at the FBI in its latest report of the bureau’s finances. In the report, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the FBI is spending $42 million per year on payments to its informants.

Video: Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz discusses today’s report on the FBI’s Management of its Confidential Human Source Validation Processes.

Read the report: https://t.co/NKTcX4UzwH pic.twitter.com/HPGr4NEEQG
— Justice OIG (@JusticeOIG) November 19, 2019

However, only 20 percent of the informants reportedly meet the bureau’s standards. Horowitz found at least one of the FBI’s informants was a registered child sex offender.
The bureau reportedly has a mounting backlog of new informants awaiting validation, which the IG said may hinder the FBI’s operations.
“Ineffective management and oversight of confidential sources can result in jeopardizing FBI operations — placing FBI agents, sources, subjects of investigation and the public in harm’s way,” stated Horowitz. “The FBI agreed with all of our recommendations to improve its management and oversight over this important program.”
The IG also found the FBI failed to provide agents with clear guidelines on how to work with informants, which made its spending on informants even less efficient.