Between 2015 and 2016,31 percent of court-martial convictions were not submitted to the FBI
The Pentagon inspector general uncovered “serious deficiencies” when it comes to military officials and law enforcement organizations reporting criminal data to the FBI.
Investigators for the Inspector General found that between 2015 and 2016, nearly 31% of court-martials that would have prevented an individual from owning a firearm were not submitted to the FBI, according to a report published by the Pentagon watchdog group.
The same issue grabbed national attention in November after the Air Force admitted it did not provide the FBI with information that would have barred former airmen Devin P. Kelley from purchasing the firearm he used to kill 26 people inside First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas.
The Defense Department Inspector General is separately investigating why the FBI was unaware of Kelley’s domestic violence conviction.
Kelley in 2014 was sentenced to a year in prison and handed a bad conduct discharge following a court-martial conviction, which should have prevented him from buying a weapon.
In reviewing the 2,502 convictions handled during the same time period, the Defense Department Inspector General additionally found the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps did not submit fingerprint cards to the FBI in 24 percent of the cases. Officials in all branches also failed to turn over final reports for 780 convictions in felony-level cases.
The Army topped the others, with 262 missing fingerprint cards and 385 missing reports. It’s followed by the Navy and then the Marine Corps, with the Air Force rounding out the list.
There is nothing in the report to suggest why the information was mishandled by military officials and law enforcement organizations.
“Our report again identified serious deficiencies throughout the DoD in reporting criminal history information to the FBI,” Principal Deputy Inspector General Glen Fine said in a statement to The Hill .
“It is critical that the DoD fully implement our recommendations to correct pass deficiencies and prevent future lapses in reporting.”
