The FBI is struggling to hire new intelligence analysts and then hold on to them, according to a new report from the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Although the FBI’s newly hired analysts were “generally well qualified,” they are also more likely than other analysts to jump ship for a better offer from a different agency, Justice IG Glenn A. Fine concluded in his report, released Wednesday.

Part of the problem may be that FBI analysts spend only half their time actually doing intelligence work, Fine found. The rest of their work involves administrative duties, including such menial chores as emptying trash cans, answering phones and keeping an eye on custodians and repair people.

If the bureau wants to build a professional analytical corps, it “must ensure that its analysts receive work that is analytical in nature and is [sic] not overly burdened by routine administrative duties,” Fine concluded.

According to the report, FBI intelligence chief Maureen Baginski explained to IG personnel that she was concerned about the non-analytical tasks analysts were asked to do — but also said she has removed her own trash, and that FBI special agents sometimes keep watch over visiting workers or perform other administrative tasks.

The FBI has struggled to hire intelligence analysts, Fine found: Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI has increased its cadre of analysts by 37 percent, to 1,403 analysts as of last October. Still, the bureau had more than 400 open positions available that it could not fill, the IG found.

The 173-page report gives extensive detail to the FBI’s travails in building an analytic corps, showing the challenges of attracting qualified talent and holding on to them through the extensive background investigation process, to training them and ensuring they are assigned meaningful intelligence work.

The report’s findings irked Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa.

“The fact that these experts who are supposed to be analyzing terrorist information are taking out the trash or answering phones 50 percent of the time doesn’t seem to be a good use of anybody’s talents in helping the FBI reach the highest standards,” Grassley said in a statement e-mailed to the media Wednesday. “The FBI still has a long way to go to make sure this important program is up to the highest standards that are expected at the top law enforcement agency.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the top Senate Democrat who oversees the bureau, commended the FBI for its progress in hiring and retaining intelligence analysts but said there was “room for improvement.”

“This audit offers valuable insight into the Bureau’s ongoing efforts,” Leahy said in a prepared statement e-mailed Wednesday to CQ Homeland Security.

Despite the FBI’s massive efforts to reinvent itself as a de facto intelligence organization, Fine’s investigators found the bureau subordinated intelligence functions to its investigative personnel. Intelligence analysts are supervised by special agents, not senior intelligence managers, the report said. Those agents are trained and experienced in the bureau’s legacy investigative methods, and may not be familiar with the role and function of the intelligence analysts they oversee.

To compensate for this, the Justice IG recommended that all special agents undergo mandatory training on the “role and capabilities” of intelligence analysts.

In her response, Baginski agreed with Fine’s recommendation and said the FBI was incorporating more intelligence-related material into new agent training. Baginski also noted that midlevel agents and analysts are participating in a two-and-a-half-day seminar on “Navigating Strategic Change,” designed by Northwestern University’s renowned Kellogg School of Management.

The IG report also looked at training, and found that the FBI’s intelligence analyst training program was largely shunned by the bureau’s analysts. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the bureau created a five-to-six-week “Basic Analyst Course.” Although new analysts were required in principle to take the course, enrollment was not mandatory. Largely viewed as inadequate preparation for intelligence work, the course was ignored by many new FBI analysts, and the classes operated at half capacity until the bureau revamped it last September, the IG found.

Despite the recent improvements, the IG pushed the FBI to develop a more extensive and rigorous analyst training program and make sure it operates at full capacity.

In her response to the IG report, FBI intelligence head Baginski largely agreed with its recommendations and explained that many were already being implemented.

Justin Rood can be reached at jrood@cq.com.