DiFi: CIA Made Unconstitutional Search Of Intelligence Committee Computers

By Susie Madrak — March 11, 2014

UPDATE: CIA Director John Brennan is shocked, shocked, I tell you, that anyone would say such a thing. If you can't trust the CIA, who can you trust?

This is big news, because Dianne Feinstein is the dysfunctional mother who insists her national security boys would never do anything wrong. But the Senate is always quick to protect themselves from abuses they tolerate for ordinary citizens. Stay tuned:

The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday sharply accused the CIA of violating federal law and undermining the constitutional principle of congressional oversight as she detailed publicly for the first time how the agency secretly removed documents from computers used by her panel to investigate a controversial interrogation program.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that the situation amounted to an attempted intimidation of congressional investigators, adding: "I am not taking it lightly."

She confirmed that an internal agency investigation of the action has been referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. And she accused the CIA of violating the Fourth Amendment, various federal laws and a presidential executive order that bars the agency from conducting domestic searches and surveillance.

She has sought an apology and recognition that the CIA search of the committee's computers was inappropriate, but said: "I have received neither."

Her comments blow wide open a dispute that has simmered behind the scenes in recent weeks after press reports said that the CIA had searched computers intended to be used solely by the panel to in an effort to determine how committee staff members gained access to a draft version of an internal agency review of its controversial interrogation program. The computers were provided by the CIA and housed at a separate facility in Virginia operated by an agency contractors.