CIA panel to suggest no punishment for spying on Senate Intelligence Committee

CIA officials accused of tampering with a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the agency’s use of torture will not be punished, The New York Times reported.

After several years, the Senate investigation’s findings were finally released earlier this month, causing a public stir with exhaustive descriptions of CIA torture methods and a conclusion that the agency received little or no useful information using the techniques.

But the 6,000-plus page document had a fraught path to existence, highlighted by a public feud between the Senate and the CIA over accusations that the agency had searched a computer network being used by Senate staffers conducting the investigation.

Reportedly, the CIA was looking to see if investigators had gotten hold of documents the agency claimed were off limits.

In its own review of the matter, the CIA inspector general cited three CIA technology officers and two lawyers as culpable of ordering the clandestine searches. The accused have defended the actions as lawful, and even said CIA Director John Brennan condoned the searches.

Read more from this story HERE.