Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Privacy

Senator Accuses CIA of Illegal Search of Congress Computers

WASHINGTON – A senior US senator on Tuesday accused the Central Intelligence Agency of illegally searching computers of Senate staff members who were investigating a CIA interrogation program.

WASHINGTON – A senior US senator on Tuesday accused the Central Intelligence Agency of illegally searching computers of Senate staff members who were investigating a CIA interrogation program.

Dianne Feinstein, the powerful chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, angrily denounced the actions of the CIA, accusing it of seeking to “intimidate” lawmakers from holding the spy agency accountable.

“I have grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution,” Feinstein said in a dramatic speech on the Senate floor.

She also said the CIA may have violated a criminal statute, as well as the executive order that bars the CIA from domestic spying.

The CIA searched the computer drive used by staffers on the intelligence committee who were preparing an elaborate report examining the agency’s controversial and now defunct interrogation program, she said.

“I have asked for an apology and a recognition that this CIA search of computers… was inappropriate,” she said.

“I have received neither.”

Shortly after Feinstein’s speech, CIA director John Brennan denied her allegations.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Brennan said at an event in Washington. “We wouldn’t do that.”

Feinstein said she and the vice chairman of the intelligence committee learned of the search on January 15 in an “emergency meeting” requested by Brennan.

The CIA search covered documents as well as “the standalone and walled off committee network drive containing the committee’s own internal work product and communications,” she said.

Feinstein’s extraordinary speech marked a break from her usually cordial relations with the intelligence community, which she has often defended against accusations of overstepping its authority.

She said she “reluctantly” decided to make her views public after trying to “resolve this dispute in a discreet and respectful way.”

The senator’s comments came after unnamed administration officials alleged to news media that Senate staffers took sensitive documents without authority, triggering an investigation.

Feinstein rejected those accounts. She said the CIA and the committee had agreed years ago to set up a secure site in Virginia for Senate staff to review documents, as well as a computer drive separate from the agency’s network.

The staffers reviewed 6.2 million documents and at no point did they seek to retrieve files that were marked classified or legally off-limits, she said.

Twice in 2010, documents that had been accessible to the staffers were removed by the CIA. After complaining to the White House, the documents were provided again, Feinstein said.

The report on detention and interrogation was completed in December 2012, when the committee approved a 6,300-page study that has yet to be released publicly.

Analysts say the Congress-CIA rift is the worst since the 1970s, when lawmakers uncovered illegal abuses and introduced legal reforms to restrict the power of the spy services.

Republican Senator John Cornyn told AFP that Feinstein’s revelations were “troubling,” while Senator Rand Paul said President Barack Obama “should be more conscious of reining in this kind of abuse.”

The discord could emerge as the second major scandal to rock the intelligence community in months, after security contractor Edward Snowden exposed the National Security Agency program that scoops up telephone data from most Americans.

Snowden, who has been given asylum in Russia, told NBC News that “the CIA was trying to play ‘keep away’ with documents relevant to an investigation by their overseers in Congress.”

“That’s a serious constitutional concern,” he said.

But Snowden also criticized Feinstein for defending her staffers while showing she “does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies.”

Feinstein has voiced support for the NSA program, arguing it helps keep America safer.

The American Civil Liberties Union applauded Feinstein for her “necessary and historic defense of the constitutional principle of separation of powers.”

“After so many years of Congress being unable or unwilling to assert its authority over the CIA, Senator Feinstein today began to reclaim the authority of Congress as a check on the executive branch,” said ACLU’s Christopher Anders.

Related ReadingSnowden: NSA Leaks Fueled Needed Debate on Spying

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Artificial Intelligence

Two of humanity’s greatest drivers, greed and curiosity, will push AI development forward. Our only hope is that we can control it.

Cybercrime

Daniel Kelley was just 18 years old when he was arrested and charged on thirty counts – most infamously for the 2015 hack of...

Cybercrime

No one combatting cybercrime knows everything, but everyone in the battle has some intelligence to contribute to the larger knowledge base.

Cybercrime

The FBI dismantled the network of the prolific Hive ransomware gang and seized infrastructure in Los Angeles that was used for the operation.

Cybersecurity Funding

Los Gatos, Calif-based data protection and privacy firm Titaniam has raised $6 million seed funding from Refinery Ventures, with participation from Fusion Fund, Shasta...

Ransomware

The Hive ransomware website has been seized as part of an operation that involved law enforcement in 10 countries.

Privacy

Many in the United States see TikTok, the highly popular video-sharing app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, as a threat to national security.The following is...

Privacy

Employees of Chinese tech giant ByteDance improperly accessed data from social media platform TikTok to track journalists in a bid to identify the source...