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<\/a>Larry Downing\/Reuters<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
CONOR FRIEDERSDORF
\nThe Atlantic<\/p>\n
This is the story of John Brennan’s CIA spying on Congress and getting away with it.<\/strong><\/p>\n Last March, Senator Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA of spying on the Senate intelligence committee as it labored to finalize its report on the torture of prisoners. \u201cI have grave concerns that the CIA\u2019s search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution,\u201d she said. \u201cI have asked for an apology and a recognition that this CIA search of computers used by its oversight committee was inappropriate. I have received neither.\u201d<\/p>\n CIA Director John Brennan denied the charge. \u201cNothing could be further from the truth,\u201d he\u00a0said<\/a>. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t do that. That\u2019s just beyond the scope of reason in terms of what we\u2019d do.\u201d It would be months before his denial was publicly proved false. “An internal investigation by the C.I.A. has found that its officers penetrated a computer network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee in preparing its damning report on the C.I.A.\u2019s detention and interrogation program,”\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>. “The report by the agency\u2019s inspector general also found that C.I.A. officers read the emails of the Senate investigators and sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department based on false information.”<\/p>\n A statement issued Thursday morning by a C.I.A. spokesman said that John O. Brennan, the agency\u2019s director, had apologized to Ms. Feinstein and the committee\u2019s ranking Republican, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and would set up an internal accountability board to review the issue. The statement said that the board, which will be led by a former Democratic senator, Evan Bayh of Indiana, could recommend \u201cpotential disciplinary measures\u201d and \u201csteps to address systemic issues.\u201d But anger among lawmakers grew throughout the day. Leaving a nearly three-hour briefing about the report in a Senate conference room, members of both parties called for the C.I.A. officers to be held accountable, and some said they had lost confidence in Mr. Brennan\u2019s leadership. \u201cThis is a serious situation and there are serious violations,\u201d said Mr. Chambliss, generally a staunch ally of the intelligence community. He called for the C.I.A. employees to be \u201cdealt with very harshly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Late last week, that internal “accountability board” announced the results of its review. If you’ve followed the impunity with which the CIA has broken U.S. laws throughout its history, you’ll be unsurprised to learn that no one is going to be “dealt with very harshly” after all. “A panel investigating the\u00a0Central Intelligence Agency<\/a>\u2019s search of a computer network used by staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who were looking into the C.I.A.\u2019s use of torture will recommend against punishing anyone involved in the episode,”\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>. “The panel will make that recommendation after the five C.I.A. officials who were singled out by the agency\u2019s inspector general this year for improperly ordering and carrying out the computer searches staunchly defended their actions, saying that they were lawful and in some cases done at the behest of\u00a0John O. Brennan<\/a>.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n The<\/em>\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0reports:<\/p>\n Mr. Brennan has enraged senators by refusing to answer questions posed by the Intelligence Committee about who at the C.I.A. authorized the computer intrusion. Doing so, he said, could compromise the accountability board\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did he know? When did he know it? What did he order?\u201d said Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is a member of the Intelligence Committee, said in an interview last week. \u201cThey haven\u2019t answered those basic questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Senator Levin, you’re a member of a coequal branch. You’ve flagged outrageous behavior among those you’re charged with overseeing. What are you going to do about it?<\/p>\n\n
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