Military didn’t notify FBI of 24% of crime cases

Lapse could have allowed illegal gun buys

“It is critical that the (Department of Defense) ... correct past deficiencies and prevent future lapses in reporting.”

Glenn Fine Pentagon inspector general

WASHINGTON – Military law enforcement officials failed to submit fingerprint reports to the FBI in one out of four cases over a two-year period in which troops had been convicted of serious crimes, the Pentagon inspector general found in a report released Tuesday. That failure potentially allowed troops to purchase weapons illegally,

The military services are required to submit “fingerprint cards” to the FBI’s Next Generation Database.

From 2015 through 2016, the inspector general found that the services did not submit 601, or 24%, of the required 2,502 fingerprint reports.

Failing to do so, the report notes, “can allow someone to purchase a weapon who should not, hinder criminal investiga- tions, and potentially impact law enforcement and national security interests.”

“Our report again identified serious deficiencies throughout the (Department of Defense) in reporting criminal history information to the FBI,” Glenn Fine, the Pentagon inspector general, said in a statement. “It is critical that the (Department of Defense) fully implement our recommendations to correct past deficiencies and prevent future lapses in reporting.”

The Air Force acknowledged it failed to notify the FBI of the court-martial of Devin Kelley, the former airman who killed more than two dozen people last month during a church service in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Such a notification would have barred him from legally buying the weapon he purchased in 2016 and used in the attack.

Fingerprint reports are used by the FBI’s Next Generation Identification database, a system for storing, comparing and exchanging fingerprint data and criminal history information for law enforcement purposes.

The military also failed to transfer final disposition reports of the convicted service members to the FBI.

The inspector general called on the Pentagon to submit the reports immediately to the FBI and to examine records dating back to 1998 to comply with FBI and military requirements.

The secretaries of the armed services and other top officials agreed to do so, according to the inspector general’s report.

In Kelley’s case, the Air Force failed to add his conviction to the federal background-check database.

The Air Force and Pentagon inspector general are investigating why the information about Kelley and others with criminal records was not transferred.

Almost five years ago, a military court dropped gun charges against Kelley and instead gave him a light, one-year sentence for threatening his wife with a loaded gun and attacking her 1-year-old child.

Devin Kelley