The CIA Just Admitted It Spied On Senate Computers
The apology from Brennan came after months of public denials from the intelligence agency and ahead of the public release of an Inspector General's report that found the CIA conducted improper searches of Senate computers. Brennan was apparently informed the report would document the searches prior to his apology.
"Director Brennan was briefed on the CIA OIG's findings, which include a judgment that some CIA employees acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding reached between SSCI [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence] and the CIA in 2009 regarding access to [the network]," CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement. "The Director subsequently informed the SSCI Chairman and Vice Chairman of the findings and apologized to them for such actions by CIA officers as described in the OIG report."
Boyd said Brennan would commission an "accountability board" to "correct any shortcomings." The board will be chaired by former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.
"This Board will review the OIG report, conduct interviews as needed, and provide the Director with recommendations that, depending on its findings, could include potential disciplinary measures and/or steps to address systemic issues," Boyd said.
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the findings raised "grave concern" about the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado), a committee member, said he had lost confidence in Brennan.
"From the unprecedented hacking of congressional staff computers and continued leaks undermining the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation program to his abject failure to acknowledge any wrongdoing by the agency, I have lost confidence in John Brennan," Udall said.
The fight between the CIA and the committee first exploded out in the open in March, when Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-California) ripped into the agency and said it may have violated the U.S. Constitution during a dramatic speech on the Senate floor. At the time, Brennan denied Feinstein's claims and said they were "beyond the scope of reason."
The CIA provided Congress with the computers as part of the investigation into the interrogation program to allow the committee to review classified documents at CIA headquarters. The incident in question arose in December, when committee investigators got ahold of an internal agency review casting a particularly bad light on the interrogation and detention programs, which were ended by President Barack Obama.
CIA officials then searched the computers to try to determine how the committee investigators had gained access to the information, Feinstein said in March. She added that the committee did nothing improper to gain access to the internal reports. "I have grave concerns that the CIA search may well have violated the separation of powers principles," Feinstein said on the floor in March. After her speech, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) called it one of the most important in Senate history.