WASHINGTON, Oct 12 AFP - The CIA is investigating the work of the spy agency’s own internal inspector general, whose aggressive inquiries into torture allegations have ruffled agency staff, the New York Times reported today.
Michael Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, ordered the investigation into the work of the agency watchdog, the Times said, citing current and former government officials.
The review is to see whether the inspector general, John Helgerson, has embarked on a crusade against agency officials working in its detention program, which has been accused of using torture to interrogate terror suspects.
The review is particularly focused on complaints that Mr Helgerson's office has not acted as a fair and impartial judge of agency operations but instead has begun a crusade against those who have participated in controversial detention programs,'' the Times said. The paper said Helgerson's office in an early 2004 report warned that some CIA-approved interrogation procedures appeared to violate the international Convention Against Torture. Helgerson is also near to finishing several investigations into CIA detentions and interrogation and its rendition program, which involves detaining suspects and holding them in other countries, or turning them over to officials in other countries, the Times said. The paper noted that normally the inspector general has the power and right to investigate the CIA director, and that it is uncommon for the director to reverse that by launching an inquiry into the watchdog office itself. A CIA spokesman told the Times that Hayden was mostly supportive of the inspector general. His only goal is to help this office, like any office at the agency, do its vital work even better,’’ said spokesman Paul Gimigliano.
The CIA inspector generals office also earlier reported on the agency’s failures before the September 11, 2001, attacks, a report whose conclusions angered many inside the agency.