New Claim: Senate Staffers Swiped Classified CIA Info

Source tells McClatchy they printed, removed internal review
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2014 7:03 AM CST
Updated Mar 6, 2014 7:40 AM CST
New Claim: Senate Staffers Swiped Classified CIA Info
   (AP Photo/David Goldman)

On the heels of a contentious report that the CIA illegally spied on aides to the Senate Intelligence Committee as they gathered information for a report on the CIA's torture program comes yet more contention. McClatchy, which first reported on the allegations yesterday, now reports that those Senate staffers tasked with using computers at CIA headquarters to review documents related to the program took classified material with them. The CIA then reportedly complained about the pilfered documents to the committee in January, leading committee staffers to determine that the computers they had used were monitored.

Via a source, McClatchy reports that Senate staffers spotted a draft of an internal review of the materials the Intelligence Committee had been given by the CIA, completed at the request of Leon Panetta. This draft was uncovered after the CIA issued its official response to the report, and the staffers felt the draft indicated that the CIA had disputed findings it actually internally determined to be correct. The source says the staffers printed the material and ferried it to Capitol Hill. McClatchy notes that Sen. Mark Udall in December called for the Panetta review to be released, but didn't specify how he was made aware of its existence. Meanwhile, CIA Director John Brennan didn't mince words over the Senate's accusations yesterday, calling them "spurious" and "wholly unsupported by the facts," and implying that the committee was the one to commit an offense, notes the Guardian. (More CIA stories.)

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