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CIA: Sorry, We Did Snoop on Senate Staffers

Chief John Brennan apologizes for monitoring computers
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2014 1:15 PM CDT
CIA: Sorry, We Did Snoop on Senate Staffers
In this Feb. 7, 2013, photo, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein welcomes then CIA chief nominee John Brennan on Capitol Hill.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Back in March, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA of illegally snooping on Senate staffers, agency chief John Brennan said this, recalls the Washington Post:

  • “When the facts come out on this, I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong."
Well, the facts have now come out—courtesy of an investigation by the CIA Inspector General's Office—and Brennan found himself on Capitol Hill yesterday apologizing to Feinstein for, yes, snooping on Senate staffers, reports McClatchy News Service.

The staffers belonged to the Senate Intelligence Committee, which Feinstein chairs, and they were investigating the CIA's use of harsh interrogation techniques. CIA employees monitored the computers used by the staffers, even though the agency had agreed to keep away. "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,” says a CIA statement. Brennan will convene an "accountability board" to review the matter and consider disciplinary action, reports AP. (More CIA stories.)

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