FBI Chief Transfers Rebuked Agent

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has given the head of the bureau’s internal discipline unit a supervisory assignment outside Washington, three months after rebuking the official for his conduct toward a whistle-blower.

The transfer of Robert Jordan from the Office of Professional Responsibility to special agent in charge of the Portland, Ore., division was announced by Mueller in a routine news release posted to the FBI’s Web site.

Cassandra Chandler, the FBI’s acting assistant director for public affairs, did not address the reasons for the transfer from the prestigious headquarters position. She called the Portland job “a highly competitive position” and said Jordan has “a wealth of field and headquarters experience.”

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the chief Senate critic of the internal discipline office under Jordan, said he looked forward to “reforms that will end the double standard in discipline and ensure that high, consistent standards of integrity apply to all FBI employees.”

Mueller rebuked Jordan in late March for inappropriate conduct toward John Roberts, a subordinate in the office who had criticized the FBI on national television.

In May, Mueller ordered a review of the office that investigates employee wrongdoing and administers discipline. Roberts contended the office had dual disciplinary systems for supervisors and field agents, an accusation Jordan denied.

Mueller, who handpicked Jordan for the internal discipline assignment, said in the transfer announcement that Jordan “re-engineered the office and greatly streamlined the disciplinary process within the FBI.”

Jordan joined the FBI in 1980 and has served in Boston, Newark, N.J., and San Diego. He participated in several successful public corruption investigations and previously headed the bureau’s national public corruption program.

In October, Roberts told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that rank-and-file FBI workers were disciplined more harshly than senior managers. He appeared on the show with the FBI’s permission.

Jordan later passed over Roberts for promotion, an action the Justice Department said left the impression of retaliation.