Nearly 100 FBI agents are fighting an agency policy that bars them from serving in the military reserves, claiming in a federal lawsuit that the rule is discriminatory.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer on Thursday ordered a Sept. 15 hearing on a request to temporarily bar FBI Director Louis Freeh from enforcing the rule, which dates from J. Edgar Hoover's reign as FBI chief.The suit seeks to "prohibit discrimination and acts of reprisal" against FBI agents who want to serve in the reserves, said Richard Dienst, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
The suit concerns 96 plaintiffs - a small fraction of the FBI's 11,000 agents. Some are in the military reserves and some have already been forced to give up their reserve status.