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CIA Will Not Punish Anyone for Spying on Senate

© REUTERS / Larry DowningThe lobby of the CIA Headquarters building in McLean, Virginia.
The lobby of the CIA Headquarters building in McLean, Virginia. - Sputnik International
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Following accusations of the CIA interfering with a Senate investigation into the agency’s torture policies, the CIA has come to an all-too-expected conclusion: no one did anything wrong.

A CIA inquiry into its own agency to find if employees inappropriately spied on congressional investigations found that “no discipline was warranted,” according to CIA Director John Brennan.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Senator Dianne Feinstein, released its five-year investigation into the CIA’s use of torture after 2001. The infamous “Torture Report,” detailing the brutal “enhanced interrogation” techniques employed by the CIA during two administrations of the War on Terror, has been a thorn in the intelligence agency’s side ever since its release in December.

Feinstein accused the CIA of violating Intelligence Committee sovereignty during its investigation of the Torture Report.

© AP Photo / Ann HeisenfeltSenate intelligence committee chair, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Cal., speaking at Capitol Hill.
Senate intelligence committee chair, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Cal., speaking at Capitol Hill. - Sputnik International
Senate intelligence committee chair, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Cal., speaking at Capitol Hill.

During the investigation, the CIA installed a computer network to provide Senate investigators with direct access to CIA documents.

The inquiry investigated an incident that occurred through this network, when Senate aides discovered reports that the CIA used this direct line into Congress to monitor key documents related to the interrogation review.

The Senate discovered that former CIA Director Leon Panetta had approved his agency to monitor certain parts of the Senate investigation.

But the CIA claims it was concerned that the documents in question posed a possible security breach. Five agency employees broke into the Senate network to assess the situation.

“Because there was no formal agreement – or even clear common understanding – governing the procedures to be followed in investigating a potential security incident in these circumstances, no course of action was free of potential complication nor conflict,” former Senator Evan Bayh, head of the inquiry, wrote.

Bayh’s inquiry found that while the CIA’s actions were “inappropriate,” they were done out of caution for national security.

“Although five [Senate] emails were accessed in the course of the investigation into a possible security breach, the Board found that…it was a mistake that did not reflect malfeasance, bad faith, or the intention to gain improper access to [Intelligence Committee] confidential, deliberative material.”

© AP Photo / Pablo Martinez MonsivaisCIA Director John Brennan speaks during a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.
CIA Director John Brennan speaks during a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. - Sputnik International
CIA Director John Brennan speaks during a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

In other words, it was all a big misunderstanding, according to the CIA.

Bayh’s inquiry recommended changes be made to how the CIA shares information with other branches of government, to which the CIA has agreed.

“I’m thankful that Director Brennan has apologized for these actions,” Senator Feinstein said in a statement. “But I’m disappointed that no one at the CIA will be held responsible.”

Feinstein has repeatedly called the CIA’s actions a violation of the constitutional separation of power, and even the CIA’s own Inspector General later said the five employees had participated in wrongdoing.

“It’s incredible that no one at the CIA has been held accountable for this very clear violation of Constitutional principles,” Intelligence Committee member Senator Ron Wyden added. “Director Brennan either needs to reprimand the individuals involved or take responsibility himself. So far he has done neither.”

After the release of the inquiry in July, President Obama affirmed his overall confidence in Brennan, but not the CIA’s actions.

The CIA’s “Torture Report” has received much heated criticism, both from human rights activists and from apologists more concerned with national security. - Sputnik International
CIA Didn't Just Torture, it Experimented on People

“It’s clear from the [Inspector General’s] report that some very poor judgment was shown in terms of how that was handled,” the president said.

But according to that same report, Brennan consulted the White House before carrying out its investigation of the Senate Intelligence Committee, getting approval from White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.

This revelation could bring the Obama administration into an already tense situation.

It’s a complicated web of domestic spying, national security paranoia, and interagency cronyism. If the CIA doesn’t want to hold employees accountable for spying on Capitol Hill – something it was never designed to do – perhaps it will accept accountability for the torture which sparked the whole mess.


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