WASHINGTON — The FBI was justified in opening its investigation into possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog said Monday.

The long-awaited report also found “serious performance failures” up the bureau’s chain of command. Another review of the origins of the probe continues.

Monday’s review by Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the Russia investigation was properly opened and that law enforcement leaders were not motivated by political bias. It said that opposition research compiled by an ex-British spy named Christopher Steele had no bearing on the decision to open the investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane.

It found that the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it opened its investigation in July 2016 into whether the Trump campaign was coordinating with Russia to tip the election in his favor. The report said the FBI had cause to investigate a potential national security threat.

FBI Director Chris Wray noted that the report did find problems that are “unacceptable and unrepresentative of who we are as an institution.”

The FBI is implementing more than 40 actions aimed at fixing some of the bureau’s most fundamental operations, such as applying for surveillance warrants and interacting with sources.

Those changes are in response to how agents and prosecutors set about eavesdropping on a former Trump campaign aide who they said they feared was being targeted for Russian government recruitment. The inspector general identified 17 “significant inaccuracies or omissions” in applications for a warrant and later renewals from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The report said errors resulted in “applications that made it appear that the information supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case.” The watchdog found that the FBI had overstated the significance of Steele’s past work as an informant and omitted information about one of his sources he said “may engage in some embellishment.”