DOJ lacks rules governing employees' off-duty behavior, report says

Jan. 15, 2015: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder participates in the Building Communities of Trust roundtable discussion in Philadelphia. (AP)

WASHINGTON – A new report says the Justice Department lacks rules governing off-duty behavior of employees in foreign countries.

The department's inspector general says there's no uniform guidance about what federal agents can and can't do while working overseas.

The report emerged from the 2012 prostitution scandal in Columbia in which three agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration were implicated. DEA is part of the Justice Department.

The Justice Department as of July 2013 had more than 1,200 permanent positions overseas, and thousands of other employees make overseas trips in a year.

The report says bad behavior by an off-duty employee can undermine an agent's credibility, put him or her in a compromising position and complicate prosecution efforts.