FBI agents raid office protecting whistleblowers: reports

WASHINGTON (AFP) — FBI agents on Tuesday raided the Office of Special Counsel and closed down its e-mail system in what appears to be a probe into political misuse of the agency, the Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio reported.

According to the Journal, the agents seized computers and documents belonging to the head of the agency, Scott Bloch, and his staff.

The Journal, quoting unnamed employees, said the searches seemed to focus on alleged obstruction of justice by Bloch during the course of a 2006 inquiry.

The Office of Special Counsel, created after the Watergate political scandal of the 1970s, is an independent agency is charged with protecting federal employees, and looking into whether whistleblower ...