Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) called for the resignation of CIA Director John Brennan in response to an inspector general report concerning the CIA’s monitoring of Senate staffers’ computers.
“After being briefed on the CIA Inspector General report today, I have no choice but to call for the resignation of CIA Director John Brennan.” Udall, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement. “The CIA unconstitutionally spied on Congress by hacking into Senate Intelligence Committee computers. This grave misconduct not only is illegal, but it violates the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of separation of powers. These offenses, along with other errors in judgment by some at the CIA, demonstrate a tremendous failure of leadership, and there must be consequences.”
Brennan on Thursday apologized on behalf of the CIA. The Department of Justice said earlier this month that it wouldn’t investigate the CIA over Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) claims that Senate computers had been wrongly accessed by the CIA.
Here is Brennan’s full statement:
After being briefed on the CIA Inspector General report today, I have no choice but to call for the resignation of CIA Director John Brennan. The CIA unconstitutionally spied on Congress by hacking into Senate Intelligence Committee computers. This grave misconduct not only is illegal, but it violates the U.S. Constitution’s requirement of separation of powers. These offenses, along with other errors in judgment by some at the CIA, demonstrate a tremendous failure of leadership, and there must be consequences.
The CIA needs to acknowledge its wrongdoing and correct the public record in a timely, forthright manner — and that simply hasn’t occurred under John Brennan’s leadership. Such an acknowledgment is necessary, whether we’re talking about spying on Senate computers or about correcting misleading and inaccurate information about the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. An internal CIA accountability board review isn’t enough.
