The CIA allegedly spied on the computers of U.S. Senate staffers who worked on a years-long report into the agency's post-9/11 detention and interrogation practices, as first reported by McClatchy.
Agency employees allegedly searched computers of Senate Intelligence Committee staffers to find out how the committee gained access to an internal CIA review of the torture program, according to McClatchy and several other news reports. The CIA Inspector General has started an inquiry into the allegations and has asked the Justice Department to look into the matter to determine whether there are grounds for a criminal investigation.
See also: Report: CIA Pays $10 Million Yearly for AT&T Call Data
Regardless of the outcome, the monitoring of Senate computers appears to be a major conflict between the spy agency and its congressional overseers, and the CIA's actions could be considered a breach of the constitutional principle of the separation of powers.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has been working for more than four years on a report consisting of 6,300 pages — an investigation that cost a total of $40 million. The committee investigated the CIA's post-9/11 practices, which involved harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding and detaining terrorist suspects in secret prisons overseas.
The resulting report is still classified, but committee members have previously stated that the report essentially shows that the CIA misled the Bush administration, Congress and the public about practices many consider torturous. The CIA has put some of these findings into question.
The exact details of the CIA's actions remain unclear, but Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) defined it as an "unprecedented action" in a letter he sent to President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
"As you are aware, the CIA has recently taken unprecedented action against the Committee in relation to the internal CIA review, and I find those actions to be incredibly troubling for the Committee’s oversight responsibilities and for our democracy," Udall wrote.
The CIA allegedly started its monitoring operations after suspecting that committee members gained access to classified documents during their investigation.

CIA Director John Brennan reacted by asking for caution until the facts are clearly established.
"I am deeply dismayed that some members of the Senate have decided to make spurious allegations about CIA actions that are wholly unsupported by the facts," Brennan said in a statement on Wednesday. "I am very confident that the appropriate authorities reviewing this matter will determine where wrongdoing, if any, occurred in either the Executive Branch or Legislative Branch. Until then, I would encourage others to refrain from outbursts that do a disservice to the important relationship that needs to be maintained between intelligence officials and Congressional overseers."
The current conflict seem to originate from June 2013, when Brennan wrote a 122-page rebuttal of the Senate Intelligence Committee report. Then, in December, Udall said the Intelligence Committee had found out about an internal CIA report consistent with the Senate investigation into the torture programs, meaning it contradicted Brennan's rebuttal.
At this point, the CIA might have started looking into staffers computers, the New York Times suggests.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) seemed to be referring to this incident when he asked Brennan whether the CIA was subject to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an anti-hacking law, during a committee hearing in late January. The agency later confirmed it is indeed obliged to follow federal anti-hacking laws, according to The Guardian.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.