FBI Director James Comey told a Senate subcommittee Thursday that an agent faced discipline for conduct related to the investigation of late Sen. Ted Stevens.  

Comey was ready for a line of questioning from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski about the FBI’s conduct in the probe of her former Alaska colleague. Murkowski asked for an update from 2012 on allegations made by FBI whistleblower Special Agent Chad Joy about inappropriate conduct by a fellow agent.  

“I did learn about this in the last week and get briefed in detail. The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) inside FBI did investigate in response and identified an agent who had engaged in improper conduct there, and the agent was severely disciplined,” Comey said. “The discipline has been imposed.”  

Comey was sworn-in as FBI director last September, succeeding longtime director Robert S. Mueller. Mueller previously faced questioning at the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce-Justice-Science about the Stevens case from both Murkowski and then-Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.  

While Comey did not identify the agent disciplined by name, details of Joy’s complaint went public in 2009. Joy made a series of allegations of impropriety against FBI Special Agent Mary Beth Kepner, outlined in a report from the Anchorage Daily News .  

Comey told Murkowski that he would look into reaching out to Joy, and that his law enforcement agency’s response went beyond dealing with the individuals involved.  

“On top of that, we pushed out refresher training to the entire workforce, especially about our discovery obligations and how we expect them to conduct themselves during those investigations. So, both broad remedial work was done, and individual discipline was imposed for the agent involved,” he said.