Defense Department

Transparency Groups Want to Oust CIA Chief As White House Backs Him

Brennan accused of violating criminal law and separation of powers.

In the latest twist in the feud between the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee over a report on torture, an alliance of 20 transparency advocacy groups has called for the firing of Director of Central Intelligence John Brennan.

The White House on Wednesday restated its previous assertions of full confidence in the director, who recently apologized to senators for having assured them—erroneously, according to a CIA inspector general’s report—that CIA staff did not hack into senate staff computers on loan from the intelligence agency containing raw material on the agency’s controversial use of “enhanced interrogation” of terrorism suspects during the George W. Bush administration.

In an August 12 letter to President Obama, the nonprofit groups—among them the Project on Government Oversight, the Sunlight Foundation, Public Citizen and the Center for Media and Democracy—expressed “grave concern” about the actions of CIA employees and asked that he request Brennan’s resignation.

The CIA employees, the letter states, “improperly accessed or caused access to” confidential Senate computer files; conducted keyword searches of and read Senate staffers’ emails; filed a criminal referral of Senate staff to the Department of Justice that “was not supported” and was based on “inaccurate information” from CIA employees; and “demonstrated a lack of candor” in interviews with the Office of the Inspector General.

“These are certainly grave violations of separation of powers, and quite possibly violations of criminal statutes,” the letter said. “Brennan’s belated, private apology and his referral of the matter to an internal CIA ‘accountability board’ are not an adequate response.”

The nonprofits also asserted that Brennan’s true role in the episode remains unclear, and cited senators’ complaints that the version of the executive summary of the coming report on torture contains too many redactions to allow readers to assign accountability.

Asked for a response by Government Executive, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price referred to recent defenses of Brennan by Obama and White House spokesman Josh Earnest, saying, “We’ll let their unequivocal remarks stand.”

 On July 31, Earnest told reporters that Brennan and the CIA press office had publicly confirmed the inspector general’s conclusion in making a judgment that some CIA employees acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding reached between the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA. That’s the kind of proactive leadership that the president would expect from somebody who has an important job like running the CIA,” Earnest said. “And it in no way impacts any judgment on John Brennan’s strong record of making the kinds of difficult decisions that are necessary to keep the American public safe.”

A CIA spokesman sent a similar response, adding a reference to an earlier statement by CIA Public Affairs Director Dean Boyd defending the report’s redactions. “More than 85 percent of the [Senate] committee’s report on the former detention and interrogation program was returned unredacted,” according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “Half of those redactions are contained in footnotes. That leaves less than 8 percent of the report itself redacted. To be clear, the redactions were the result of an extensive and unprecedented interagency process, headed up by ODNI, to protect sensitive classified information,” Boyd said. “That was the only aim in this process. We are confident that the declassified document delivered to the committee would provide the public with a full view of the committee’s report on the detention and interrogation program. We have begun a constructive dialogue with the committee.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.