Senate leader accuses CIA of hacking computers

The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the CIA of criminal activity in improperly searching a computer network set up for lawmakers investigating allegations that the agency used torture in terror investigations during the Bush administration.

Democrat Dianne Feinstein, in an extraordinary speech on the Senate floor, publicly aired an intense but formerly quiet dispute between Congress and the spy agency. She said the matter has been referred to the Justice Department for further investigation.

Both Feinstein and the CIA have accused each other’s staffs of improper behaviour. She said she had “grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the US constitution.”