The FBI's reputation, already tarnished by a series of well-publicised errors, reached a new low yesterday after the news that 449 guns and 184 laptop computers had been lost or stolen from the bureau.
The stolen guns included rifles and machine guns. One of them was later used in a murder, and at least one of the missing laptops contained classified information about spy investigations by the FBI.
The losses came to light as a result of a detailed inventory of FBI equipment ordered by the justice department after a string of bungles and embarrassments, and have added to the impression of disarray inside the bureau.
The news broke as the Senate was holding hearings on the state of the FBI's management following the nomination of a new director, Robert Mueller.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the judiciary committee said: "There are some very serious management problems at the FBI." Orrin Hatch, the committee's top Republican, said: "This is simply inexcusable."
In recent months, the FBI has suffered one humiliation after another. Two months ago, it discovered evidence from its investigation into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which should have been handed to lawyers for Timothy McVeigh at his trial four years ago. The belated discovery led to a month-long postponement of his execution.
Earlier this year, the bureau unearthed a spy in its counter-intelligence section, Robert Hanssen, who turned out to have been selling secrets to Moscow since 1979. The FBI has also been accused of over-zealous prosecution and racial bias in the case of Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-American nuclear scientist at the Los Alamos laboratories who was accused of stealing weapons secrets. However, the prosecution case against him quickly collapsed in court for lack of evidence.
The FBI inventory found that 184 guns were stolen from the cars and homes of agents. Officials said one of the stolen guns was later used in a murder in a southern city, but gave no other details. Another 265 weapons were classified as unaccounted for.
Of the 184 missing laptops, 13 are reported to have been stolen, including one which contained details of two completed FBI investigations into espionage cases. FBI sources said that another three missing computers might contain secret files.
