Pentagon said lax on child porn probe

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A U.S. senator says the Pentagon should have paid more attention to employees downloading child pornography on their work and home computers.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told The Boston Globe he was informed that Pentagon investigators failed to check all the names on a list of 5,200 employees suspected of viewing child pornography.

He said 1,700 names on the list were not reviewed, the Globe reported Wednesday.

"These cases were not considered a priority by the Defense Department in the first place, and they should have been," Grassley said.

They stem from an expansive investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as Project Flicker.

Downloading child pornography is a federal crime punishable by prison sentences of five to 20 years.

Members of Congress and other officials say employees with high-level security classifications are vulnerable to blackmail if they access such materials.

The Defense Department's inspector general has told Grassley the department is working to correct problems with the investigation.