Exclusive:
CIA says its inspector general is resigning at end of month
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[January 06, 2015]
By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA inspector
general David Buckley, who investigated a dispute between the agency and
Congress over the handling of records of the CIA's detention and
interrogation activities, is resigning effective Jan. 31, the CIA said
on Monday.
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The agency said in a statement that Buckley, who has served as the
agency's internal watchdog for more than four years, was leaving the
agency to "pursue an opportunity in the private sector."
Officials at both the CIA and on Capitol Hill said his departure was
unrelated to politics or anything he had investigated.
Civil liberties advocates said the timing of Buckley's exit was
unfortunate. "The CIA inspector general is one of the few people who
has tried to impose some accountability on the CIA at a time when
the White House and many in Congress are failing to do their
oversight jobs," said Christopher Anders of the American Civil
Liberties Union.
Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government
Oversight, said Buckley had "raised some serious concerns about the
conduct of the CIA in trying to thwart the Senate Intelligence
Committee ... The lack of repercussions is very troubling and his
departure so soon afterwards is troublesome."
Buckley's resignation came as the outgoing chairwoman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, issued a series of
recommendations "to prevent the future use of torture" by U.S.
agencies. Her recommendations include a proposal to increase the CIA
Inspector General's power.
Feinstein recommended that the CIA's director issue an order
requiring that the Inspector General promptly be notified of all new
agency covert actions and all changes or expansions in such
operations.
Feinstein also recommended that Congress change U.S. law to
explicitly prohibit torture and to ban the CIA from holding
detainees for anything but brief periods. She also recommended that
the Director of National Intelligence issue orders prohibiting
contractors from conducting interrogations and directing, evaluating
or managing spy programs.
She also recommended that the intelligence director and U.S.
Attorney General order that all "national security interrogations"
be videotaped.
Buckley's most public action as CIA inspector general occurred last
July when he issued a report on the dispute between the agency and
the Senate Intelligence Committee. The report found that some agency
employees had "acted in a manner inconsistent" with an understanding
between the CIA and the committee regarding access to a special
computer network set up to share documents about the agency's
involvement in harsh treatment of detained militants.
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According to the report, CIA director John Brennan a year ago
complained to the Senate Intelligence Committee's leadership, headed
by Feinstein, that Senate investigators had obtained documents to
which the agency believed they should not have had access.
Subsequently, according to an agency statement, Feinstein expressed
concern that CIA officers acted improperly when they searched the
special computer network to locate the documents.
Buckley's office reported "a judgment that some CIA employees acted
in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding" about access
to the network which the Senate panel and agency had reached in
2009, a CIA statement said.
Buckley's office sent its report on the dispute to the Justice
Department. Meanwhile, the CIA's acting general counsel filed a
criminal referral with the Justice Department complaining about the
actions of Senate investigators.
The Justice Department later decided that it had insufficient
grounds to open a full-scale investigation into either the Inspector
General or general counsel's complaints.
Buckley served both as a senior official in the Treasury and Defense
Departments as well as in senior positions at the House Intelligence
Committee and the Government Accountability Office.
CIA director John Brennan said that during his tenure, Buckley had
"demonstrated independence, integrity, and sound judgment in
promoting efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability."
A White House official said that Buckley had been "a tremendous
partner to colleagues throughout the Administration." It was not
immediately known what Buckley's new role in the private sector
would be.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Bill Trott and John
Pickering)
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