The director of the CIA, John Brennan, apologized to leaders of US Senate Intelligence Committee for monitoring computers used by committee investigators.

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, apologized to leaders of US Senate Intelligence Committee for monitoring computers used by committee investigators.

CIA employees improperly searched computers used by Senate investigators involved in a multi-year probe of the agency’s use of harsh interrogation measures on terrorism suspects, according to the findings of an internal agency inquiry that was released Thursday.

Ten agency employees, including two lawyers and three computer specialists, surreptitiously searched Senate Intelligence Committee files and reviewed some committee staff members’ e-mail on computers that were supposed to be exclusively for congressional investigators, spokesman Dean Boyd said, citing the summary of the CIA inspector general’s report said.

Boyd said Brennan had informed Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Senate committee's chair, and its senior Republican, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, of the finding and apologized.

The Senate committee has been investigating CIA’s excessive use of harsh interrogations methods, including water boarding, as well as secret prisons.

The document also criticized members of the computer team for a “lack of candor about their activities” when they were questioned by investigators working for CIA Inspector General David Buckley.