CIA officials will not face charges for peeping into the Senate’s activity, according to a recently released executive summary of the famous report on ‘torture practices’ within the agency. Investigators have been advised not seek punishment for the Central Intelligence Agency’s inquiry of a computer network utilized by Senate Intelligence Committee staff.
The scandal boiled over the CIA’s meddling into the committee’s activities while Democrats were analyzing a “torture report” concerning the agency. The report was discharged last week and showed that the CIA made use of ruthless interrogation procedures against suspected terrorists, with debatable efficacy.
The board incriminated five CIA heads which supposedly requested and performed computer investigations. The alleged culprits stated, in their defense, that their activity was legitimate and carried out at the command of CIA chief John O. Brennan, as indicated by the New York Times. Consequently, the aforementioned accusations will not lead to any penalties for the authorities as the board plans to condemn the institution for its activities and does not seek to target specific officials.
This choice is probably going to outrage the Intelligence Committee, who is fuming about the fact that the CIA was endeavoring to meddle in an examination of wrongdoing concerning the activity of an agency. The investigations are thought to have happened before the end of last year as the advisory group was dealing with a report that hammered its confinement and cross examination practices.
The disclosures led to a huge rupture between intelligence offices and the Senate committee. The latter is being accused of overseeing the respective agencies and secretly conducting its affairs. For instance, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), the director of the panel reprimanded the agency publicly.
A Times report added to the story, revealing that two lawyers and three CIA officers managed to escape likely scolding thanks to a few documents and a call with Brennan. The board, which is led by a previous Democratic congressperson who worked for the Intelligence Committee, is still working on its report. This implies that it could take week until the document will be handed in to CIA. However the report has already established that the five employees will not face any charges.
Generally such reports are not open for the large public, but given the public nature of the circumstances and the unpredictability of the problem, it is possible that a part of the conclusions will be public.
Brennan, who initially sided with the CIA, later made an apology when the organization’s general inspector discovered that they had not properly monitored the panel’s actions and read agency’s investigators emails.
Image Source: The Guardian
