Former CIA officer calls for accountability after alleged assault

Jury action originates Monday successful a lawsuit involving a erstwhile CIA serviceman who said she was sexually assaulted by a workfellow successful July 2022 astatine nan agency's headquarters.

With nan proceedings beginning, Rachel Cuda, nan alleged victim, revealed her personality for nan first clip and said to CBS News. She said moving astatine nan CIA was a dream profession until nan summertime of 2022 erstwhile she went for a locomotion astatine activity pinch a adjacent workfellow who attacked her successful a stairwell, she claimed.

"I felt this scarf travel complete my head. I turned astir and my attacker said, 'this is what I want to do to you,' started to tighten it and past tried to thin successful to buss me," Cuda said.

She said she pushed her offender disconnected and told him to stop.

"I didn't cognize what had conscionable happened," Cuda said. "No 1 had tried to touch maine astatine work."

Cuda said she tried to study what happened to her contiguous supervisor and aggregate different CIA offices, but said she discovered location was nary general process successful spot to grip claims of intersexual misconduct.

"I was successful nan acheronian astir really my lawsuit was being handled," she said. "I was not fixed due updates connected what was being done to support maine safe."

Cuda said CIA officials warned her that going to nan constabulary would break nan confidentiality agreements she made arsenic an agency employee.

"I was very adamant. I wanna spell to rule enforcement, but I besides wanna support my career. There was nary pathway to do that," she said.

When a bid of soul investigations cleared her alleged attacker of immoderate wrongdoing, she turned extracurricular of nan CIA, filing a constabulary study and seeking a protective order. She besides shared her communicative pinch Congress, testifying down closed doors to nan House Intelligence Committee.

In total, 26 whistleblowers, including Cuda, said to nan committee arsenic portion of a sweeping investigation into nan CIA. The results recovered that nan agency "failed to grip allegations of intersexual battle and harassment."

Last December, Congress passed authorities requiring nan agency to create new policies and trainings for proceeding cases of intersexual battle and harassment, supply a typical victims interrogator for each lawsuit and let victims to study confidentially.

"We are seeing much group travel guardant and we are encouraging group to travel forward," said CIA spokesperson Tammy Thorp. 

Thorp acknowledges that anterior to nan changes, nan reporting process was confusing.

"The quality of our activity does require galore officers to beryllium undercover. I will opportunity that 1 of nan awesome steps that we've taken has been to show group they tin spell to rule enforcement," Thorp said.

Cuda said she thinks reporting her allegations extracurricular nan CIA led to her firing past year. The agency denies it retaliated against her. She said she is still proceeding from victims who opportunity they don't consciousness safe reporting their cases to CIA officials.

Thorp's connection to labor is to travel guardant and stock their concerns.

"We understand that we person much activity to do," she said.

County prosecutors successful Virginia yet charged Cuda's alleged attacker pinch misdemeanor battery, not intersexual assault. A caller ineligible filing by his lawyer based on he had been falsely accused, that he mildly draped nan scarf complete Cuda arsenic a lighthearted joke and had nary intentions of harming her.

"I did not do what I've been accused of," nan alleged attacker previously told nan Washington Post. "I want to beryllium very clear that I did not successful immoderate measurement put this personification successful immoderate benignant of danger, harm them, aliases effort to buss them, and I look guardant to proving that successful court."

Cuda told CBS News she plans to attest astatine nan trial.

In:
• United States Congress
• Central Intelligence Agency
• Assault
• Sexual Assault
• Sexual Misconduct