Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan.
"The CIA accidentally released a document to me under FOIA and then asked that I refrain from posting it," says VICE's Jason Leopold.
He declined.
That document was a draft apology letter from John Brennan to U.S. senators, which basically said the CIA was sorry. What were they sorry for? No big deal. Just hacking the U.S. Senate's network to spy on senators concerned that the agency was torturing war-on-terror detainees. For some reason, these wacky lawmakers in the senate had this kooky, subversive idea that torture violates the sacred, time-honored ethical and legal principles upon which this nation's very identity was based.
Jason says,
I declined their request. It was an apology letter from John Brennan to Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss. Brennan never sent it.
After a year of pursuing internal CIA documents about allegations that the agency spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee while they were working on the torture repott, the CIA finally turned over hundreds of internal memos, emails and letters to me. The documents make clear that the CIA was at fault and this was a cover up of epic proportions.
Check out the lengthy report and the documents at the bottom of the story.
Read: The Google Search That Made the CIA Spy on the US Senate
The apology letter Brennan never signed or sent.
The apology letter Brennan never signed or sent. Page 2.
![Happier days: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) with John Brennan, CIA Director, on Capitol Hill in Washington January 31, 2013. [REUTERS/Yuri Gripas]](https://i0.wp.com/boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/brennan-feinstein.jpg?resize=970%2C671)
Happier days: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) with John Brennan, CIA Director, on Capitol Hill in Washington January 31, 2013. [REUTERS/Yuri Gripas]
