US HOUSE REP. CRITICIZES CIA CHIEF

Washington, 17 Jumadil Awwal 1435/18 March 2014 (MINA) – A Rep. Adam Schiff of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence lambasted CIA chief for giving a confrontational response to allegations that the agency spied on a Senate panel.

Trust has collapsed between the CIA and Congress after Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) accused the CIA of violating “the separation-of-powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution,” Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

In a speech on the floor of the US Senate last week, Feinstein accused the CIA of secretly removing documents, searching computers used by the Senate Intelligence Committee and trying to intimidate congressional investigators by requesting an FBI inquiry of their conduct.

CIA Director John Brennan rejected the allegations saying they went “beyond the scope of reason. He added “when the facts come out on this, I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong.”

However, Schiff said he’s “surprised” and “taken aback” by Brennan’s reactions to spying charges. He noted the spying charges are “very serious” and warned that Brennan’s reaction would undermine the relationship between Congress and the CIA.

“I can understand, as a relatively new director, his wanting to go to bat to support his agency. But I don’t think a confrontation with the Senate is in either his interest or the interest of the agency,” Schiff said Friday during taping of C-Span’s “Newsmakers” program, which was aired Sunday. “So I’ve been a little bit taken back by the degree to which they have, you know, really kind of pushed back without any kind of conciliation on this.”

The Obama administration has been seeking to solve the dispute and the White House has avoided taking sides in the argument.

“This is a matter involving protocols established for the interaction between committee staff and the CIA,” said spokesman Jay Carney. “There are periodic disputes about this process and it is under two separate investigations, so I am not going to provide an analysis of it.” (T/P04/P03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)