CIA IG Summary of Report<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHe hinted that the scandal goes further than the individuals cited in Buckley\u2019s report.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very clear that CIA people knew exactly what they were doing and either knew or should\u2019ve known,\u201d said Levin, adding that he thought that Buckley\u2019s findings should be referred to the Justice Department.<\/p>\n
A person with knowledge of the issue insisted that the CIA personnel who improperly accessed the database \u201cacted in good faith,\u201d believing that they were empowered to do so because they believed there had been a security violation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no malicious intent. They acted in good faith believing they had the legal standing to do so,\u201d said the knowledgeable person, who asked not to be further identified because they weren\u2019t authorized to discuss the issue publicly. \u201cBut it did not conform with the legal agreement reached with the Senate committee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckley was joined by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Andrew B. Willison, the chamber\u2019s chief law enforcement officer, who has been looking into the alleged unauthorized removal of classified materials by the panel staff.<\/p>\n
The meeting came two days after Brennan briefed Feinstein and Chambliss on Buckley\u2019s conclusions and apologized to them for the improper intrusion into the database, CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe director . . . apologized to them for such actions by CIA officers as described in the OIG (Office of Inspector General) report,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brennan will submit Buckley\u2019s findings to an accountability board chaired by retired Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, who served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Boyd said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n
Feinstein called Brennan\u2019s apology and his decision to submit Buckley\u2019s findings to the accountability board \u201cpositive first steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis IG report corrects the record and it is my understanding that a declassified report will be made available to the public shortly,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation confirmed what I said on the Senate floor in March _ CIA personnel inappropriately searched Senate Intelligence Committee computers in violation of an agreement we had reached, and I believe in violation of the constitutional separation of powers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It was not clear why Feinstein didn\u2019t repeat her charges from March that the agency also may have broken the law and had sought to \u201cthwart\u201d her investigation into the CIA\u2019s use of waterboarding, which simulates drowning, sleep deprivation and other harsh interrogation methods _ tactics denounced by many experts as torture.<\/p>\n
Buckley\u2019s findings clashed with denials by Brennan that he issued only hours after Feinstein\u2019s blistering Senate speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as the allegations of, you know, CIA hacking into, you know, Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, we wouldn\u2019t do that. I mean, that\u2019s _ that\u2019s just beyond the _ you know, the scope of reason in terms of what we would do,\u201d he said in an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest issued a strong defense of Brennan, crediting him with playing an \u201cinstrumental role\u201d in the administration\u2019s fight against terrorism, in launching Buckley\u2019s investigation and in looking for ways to prevent such occurrences in the future.<\/p>\n
Earnest was asked at a news briefing whether there was a credibility issue for Brennan, given his forceful denial in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at all,\u201d he replied, adding that Brennan had suggested the inspector general\u2019s investigation in the first place. And, he added, Brennan had taken the further step of appointing the accountability board to review the situation and the conduct of those accused of acting improperly to \u201censure that they are properly held accountable for that conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conciliatory tone of the CIA announcement and Feinstein\u2019s statement sharply contrasted with the unprecedented battle that erupted over the issue between the spy agency and its congressional overseers and appears to represent attempts to ease what have been seriously icy relations.<\/p>\n
In her Senate floor speech in March, Feinstein asserted that the CIA may have violated the law and the Constitution by monitoring her staff\u2019s computers and blocking access to documents that had been placed in the protected database.<\/p>\n
The allegations and the separate CIA charge that the committee staff removed classified documents from the secret CIA facility in Northern Virginia without authorization were referred to the Justice Department for investigation.<\/p>\n
The department earlier this month announced that it had found insufficient evidence on which to proceed with criminal probes into either matter \u201cat this time.\u201d Thursday, Justice Department officials declined comment.<\/p>\n
The CIA required the committee staff to use CIA computers in the top-secret agency facility to review more than 6 million pages of classified reports, emails and other documents related to the detention and interrogation program.<\/p>\n
In January, Brennan confronted Feinstein behind closed doors over a committee request for top-secret material that the CIA determined the panel staff already had obtained.<\/p>\n
He contended that her staff may have improperly accessed the material, which comprised an internal CIA review that Feinstein and other lawmakers contend verified the panel\u2019s main finding that the agency\u2019s use of the harsh interrogation methods failed to produce much valuable intelligence.<\/p>\n
In her speech, Feinstein asserted that her staff found the material _ known as the Panetta review, after former CIA Director Leon Panetta, who ordered it _ in the protected database and that the CIA discovered the staff had it by monitoring its computers in violation of the user agreement.<\/p>\n
The inspector general\u2019s summary, which was prepared for the Senate and the House intelligence committees, didn\u2019t identify the CIA personnel who had accessed the Senate\u2019s protected database.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, it said, the CIA crimes report to the Justice Department alleging that panel staffers had removed classified materials without permission was grounded on inaccurate information. The report is believed to have been sent by the CIA\u2019s then acting general counsel, Robert Eatinger, who was a legal adviser to the interrogation program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe factual basis for the referral was not supported, as the author of the referral had been provided inaccurate information on which the letter was based,\u201d said the summary, noting that the Justice Department decided not to pursue the issue.<\/p>\n
Unaware that Brennan then halted an internal CIA inquiry into the allegation, the agency\u2019s Office of Security \u201cconducted a limited investigation\u201d that included a keyword search of emails that the committee staff had sent over the CIA computer network established for its work, the summary said.<\/p>\n
Some of the emails\u2019 contents also were reviewed, it said.<\/p>\n
The three information technology specialists \u201cdemonstrated a lack of candor\u201d in interviews with Buckley\u2019s office, it said, using a euphemism for lying.<\/p>\n
The committee\u2019s full report, which is being reviewed at the White House following a declassification process at the CIA, found that the use of the harsh interrogation techniques produced little valuable intelligence, according to classified conclusions obtained by McClatchy.<\/p>\n
It also determined that the agency misled the Bush administration, Congress and the public on the interrogation program\u2019s failure to produce much valuable intelligence, according to the conclusions.<\/p>\n
Former Bush administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, the CIA and those who oversaw the program, which ran from 2001 until 2006, have vigorously disputed those findings. They\u2019ve also insisted that the techniques were legal and didn\u2019t constitute torture.<\/p>\n
Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the CIA announcement, saying that \u201can apology isn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Justice Department must refer the (CIA) inspector general\u2019s report to a federal prosecutor for a full investigation into any crimes by CIA personnel or contractors,\u201d said Anders.<\/p>\n
___
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