FBI agents cheated in terrorism test

A US government investigation has uncovered proof of widespread cheating by FBI agents in an internal test.

The exam was designed to test their knowledge of terrorism investigations and foreign intelligence meeting.

The Department of Justice found that FBI field agents had cheated by conferring and using crib sheets and computers to look up responds.

The report found that "an important number of FBI employees engaged in some form of improper conduct or cheating" on the test. Suspicions were increased after 200 FBI staff finished the 90-minute exam in less than 20 minutes.

All employees were required to take the 51-question computerized exam after undergoing 16 and a half hour of tuition about controversial new guidelines for domestic terrorism investigations.

After interviewing staff, investigators found that a lot of people taking the exam had conferred; workers in one office exploited a programming error to call up the answers and in another office, of 11 workers interviewed, three supervisors and four agents said that they had used answer sheets.