REPORT OF INVESTIGATION AGENCY ACCESS TO THE SSCI SHARED DRIVE ON RDINET

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06274838
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 57
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2023
• Case Number: F-2019-01323
• Publication Date: July 18, 2014

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18 July 2014
U) REPORT OF INVEST
(U//FOU0) Agency Access to the SSCI,Shared Drive
on RDINet
NTRALINTELUGENCE AGENCY
ice of Inspector General
ucklev
norai
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(U) Executive Summary
On ji9 January 2014,,,the':CIA Office of Inspector General opened an investigatio
into allegations that Agency personnel improperly accessed SenateiSelect,COtrirnittee-lin
Intelligence (SSCI) staff files and,reCords-on the CIA-operated=and-rnaintait;d:*nditi*
'Deten4oh,-,041iteirogatiOn network :(RDINet). ,sOn 30 'January 2014; in accordance with Ttl
50 U S C � 3517(b)(5), OIQ,,roliorted'dle matter to the Department jtistice,(D0Afor potential
violations of Titles 18 U:.S.C.'� 2511 (Wiretap Act) and 18 U.S.C;,�4030.(Compiltir Fraud and
Abuse,Act)1,. The investigation was predicated on infortnatiabbtained:a&pari,i4iiii010 review
into allegations made by SSCI Chairman Dianne Feinstein to Director Of the central, Intelligence'
Agency (D/CIA) John Brennan that CIA personnel ,had `!"conducted one or more searches of
,computernetworkat an offsite facility that the CIA had assigned exclusively to the staff of the
[SSCI]:"" The 010 investigation was 'limited jnscope'to review the conduct of Agency officials,
' and,did,not examine the conduct of SSCI staff members:,
(U) The bIG investigation determined the following:,
1. (U) Five Agency employees, two attorneys and three information technology (IT) staff
members, improperly accessed SSCI Majority staff sharcd,drives,on the RDINet.
o The three IT staff members who accessed the 'SSCI Majority Shated drive
displayed a lack of candorabout their activities. when intervieWed by the OIG.
'(U) The Agency filed a crimes report :with the D0.1, reporting that SSCI staff members
. .
may have =properly accessed Agency information on the RDINet The ()IQ
Investigation determined that the factual basis for this was unfounded and e
author of the letter had been provided inaccurateinformation'ori which:the-letter was-,
based.
(U) Subsequent to directive by the D/CIA to halt the Agency-review-OfSSCI staff:
access to the RDINet, the Security S) conducted a limited and
incomplete investigation of SSCI activities on the RDINet that included
and alreyieW of some of the emails of SSCI Majority staff members on that
network.:
(U) RDINet was built at an Agency facility in June 2009 to support a SSCI review' of
Agency's rendition, detention, and interrogation activities. RDINet was created to,allow,Agency
stafflo'review documents for prodtictibn to the SSCI, and to provide appropriate documents to
the SSCI staff. Separate electronic shared drives were created on RDINet for�thense'of,the SSCI'
Majority and Minority staffs and for the Agency personnel supporting-the review and redaction
1 (U) On 36 April 2014; the DOJ advised theCIAinspector General that DOJ hadeornpleted its review, of the
allegations and hadno prosecutorial interest.
OIG Case No. 2014-11718-IG
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of documents provided to the SSCI review teams, Following review ofrelevantdocuments by
the RDI team, responsive documents were then made available to SSCI staff members on their
respective,Shared driyes.
'(U) As part of the Agency's efforts to review and provide documents to the SSCI, then D/C
Leon Panetta requested summaries,of the documents beingProvide&to;the SSCI.', These
sunimary/amlyticalAricuments were considered and marked as internal and privileged by the
Agency:: The Agency holds that the Were outside the scope of .the'clata-which
Agency agreed to provide for thessd review. The creation of such summaries was hal
early 2010 when the 13% began an inquiry (lect by Assistant United Slates Attorney John
Durban') inteRDImatters.
�
'(U)" While there was no signe4.mernoranduMefunderstandingbetween,the Agency'arid
regarding access AO the RDINet;eorrespendence between then D/CIA Panetta and Chairman
Feinstein established a common-underStanding.betweeothe parties that the SSCI shared drives
would be a walled-off area only be accessible to CIA IT administrators for the Ople,
piriposeofIT'networkadininistration. In addition to the common understanding,',theSSCtstaff
were Provitteda Warning at each login that their "use of this system may you`-
, ,
have no expectation of privacy."
(U) Improper Agency Access to SSCI files on RDT1Net
(II) On or before 9 January 2014, personnel from the Agency's RDI team theorized that SSC
staffers had improperly obtained copies of the privileged intelligence summaries created by
Agency, and: that these documents were stored on the SSCI Majority staff Shared drive 0
9 January;merribers'of the RDt team used the rrsystem administrator access to the SSCI'
Majority shared,driVeto prove this theory4'. The Office of General Counsel (OGC) attorney
unilaterally concluded that hadlhelegal authority to task
,
Of members to access the SSCI shared drive and conduct a,search for copieofthe
,
rivileged -doeuments. A second OGC attorney, tasked three members Of the
RDI iT wain to use their administrative rights to access and view documentsen-t4,,Ssci:,
Majority shared drive on three separate occasions between 9 and 12 January 2014.
(U) As 'a result of their review, the two OGC attorneys .oricluded-that.coPies of " (b)(3)
the intelligence summaries were Present, on the SSCI Majority shared drive, and that the Agency
had not provided these documents to the SSCI staff as part of regular provisioning of
documentation. The attorneys therefore believed the SSCI staff had improperly accessed
portions of RDINet that werereitrietal,to Agency staff, and through this access moved the
intelligence summariesentoThe SSCI Majority staff shared drive.
(U), On 9 January, following their tasking to the IT team, the OGC attorneys also tiskedlhe
Agency's internal IT Monitoring component with obtaining further information On the activities
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of SSCI staffers on RDINet, using data previously collected by the Agency on the system. Bo
'attorneys informed the monitoring team that the tasking was directed by D/CIA, however, the
'0IG-Investigation,showed no evidence that the ID/CIA ordered thelasking,or,,,was even aware of
the tasking at,thelime it was made. Based upon this tasking ,,the monitoring team staff
performedia limited review of SSCI staff activity, using the previously collected daia,,
(U) Office of Security Review of SSCI Staff Activity
� (U) On 14 -1,annarY1914;,�the D/CIA became aware that the monitoring team,hed Iben'etigag
to review,the'questioned activities of the SSCI staff on RDINet and immediately ..�
,
struiddown on any and all investigative activities. The D/CIA briefed SSCI Chairman Feinstein
on 15 January that based upon information provided to hirribythe atiorneys,'':S'SCI staff , (b)(3)
, , ,
members had improperly accessed Agency documents. The 'MIA recommended to the SS
, _
'Chairman and Vice Chairman a joint forensic review of the activities of SSCLstaffers and
. _
Agency personnel on the'SSCI:Thared drive. ThcrIOS was then asked by the Office of the
D/CIA to prepare to conduct ajoint forensic review, with.SSCI. Prior tothe,coMmeneement of
this joint review, the SSCI Security Officer infontiedrIOS that, per Chairman Feinstein, the
SSCI was ons(anddown for any joint review. -Despite this notice that SSCI was no longer
interested in a joint review,r�OS requested concurrence from the,D/CIA's offiee,to-Proe
with a unilateral review of Agency and SSCI activity on the SSCI shared drive.,-Withotit�warting
for concurrence from D/CIA, 110S ,directed an investigation by staff that reSulted',iiithe
generation of a report of SSCI activity on the SSCI Majority shared drive, ,which included
forensically reconstructed,sonie-RDINet =nails between SSCI staffers. The.reVieW'�was also
based, in part, on information previously collected by the monitoring teatii.i;
(U) Agency Crimes Report On Alleged Misconduct by SSCI-Sta
(I) On7'February2014-, the then-Acting General Counsel, who had previously recused. himself�
from RDI-related matters and was therefore largely unaware of programthatieditaili, filed a
crimes report with the 1)0.1, as required by Executive Order 12333 and the 1995 Crimes "
Reporting Memorandum between the DOI and the Intelligence Community based on inaccurate
,
information provided to him byr1OS. The crimes report stated that SSCI staffers, may have
exploited a software vulnerability on RD11�Jet to obtain access to the intelligence summaries
created by the Agency, in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.0:;'�4()3i).
The report was solely based on inaccurate information provided by the two OGC attorneys to
flOS and was not supported by, or consistent with, the results of the lirhitzd investigation
conducted by QS team. The OIG investigation determined that there was no'factua1;baliSforthe
allegations made in the CIA crimes report
OIG Case No. 2014-11718=IG
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(U) Lack of CancloebrCeitain.RDI Staff
(U) The OIG determined that /01Net IT officers responsible for aSSisting,inicondFcting the
search of the-.,S,SCI'M4inritYsitared drive were not forthcoming in their initial interviews with
OIG; in thafthek failed to disclose to the �IP' the activities they conchiCtecI,,k: the attorneys',.`,,�
direciionj-to'access the SSCI Majority ,staff shared drive. Whenintervievved,n.geeOnd