The Central Intelligence Agency may have just lost one of its closest allies on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has long been one of the most staunch defenders of the U.S. intelligence community, accused the CIA of snooping through congressional computers in an act of intimidation.
Feinstein, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, said the CIA had removed important documents from congressional computers on which staffers had been compiling a report on the agency's detention program that took place during President George W. Bush's administration. The senator said the CIA may have violated the Fourth Amendment, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the committee's right to executive oversight and an executive order that prohibits the agency from conducting domestic searches and surveillance.
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Though the potential spying issue is now fully in public view, it has been brewing for some time. Congressional staffers have been working for more than four years on a 6,300-page report that details torturous interrogation techniques used by the CIA on terrorism suspects after 9/11, and part of their report cites information from a document called the Panetta Review, named for the man who ordered an examination of the detention program, former CIA Director Leon Panetta.
The CIA claims they did not make the document available to Congress, something Feinstein flatly denied.
"Our staff involved in this matter have the appropriate clearances, handled this sensitive material according to established procedures and practice to protect classified information, and were provided access to the Panetta Review by the CIA itself," Feinstein said in a statement on the Senate floor.
She also expressed concern over the actions the CIA has taken since congressional staffers obtained the review.
"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. "It may have undermined the constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activities or any other government function."
CIA Director John Brennan denied the accusations to NBC News, and urged that the nation should wait for the facts to come out.
"Let me assure you the CIA was in no way spying on [the committee] or the Senate," Brennan said. Later, he added, "We greatly respect the separation of powers between the executive branch and the legislative branch."
The CIA's supposed actions first became public last week, when a number of news reports detailed the allegations. Feinstein pointed to these reports as the impetus for her speech, saying she had previously been trying resolve the committee's dispute with the CIA in private.
"I have not commented in response to media requests for additional information on this matter," Feinstein said. "However, the increasing amount of inaccurate information circulating now cannot be allowed to stand unanswered."
For now, Feinstein's accusation has been referred to the Justice Department, as has the CIA's claim that Congress should never have had the Panetta Review.
Read the full transcript of Feinstein's speech here, or watch it below.

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