The Justice Department won’t launch a criminal investigation into claims from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein that the CIA improperly spied on committee staff.

"The department carefully reviewed the matters referred to us and did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal investigation," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement.

McClatchyDC first reported the news Thursday.

Senate staffers accused by the CIA of mishandling classified documents are also off the hook, Carr says.

Feinstein's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a March 11 Senate floor speech that the CIA may have broken various laws by spying on committee staffers who were investigating controversial CIA interrogation techniques that critics call torture.

The dispute arose after committee staff printed an internal CIA review of the harsh tactics. The agency apparently did not intend to share the document, called the “Panetta Review,” with congressional investigators. Feinstein says the review contradicts later CIA claims that committee findings were inaccurate.

“I have grave concerns that the CIA's search [of computers used by Senate staff] may well have violated the separation of powers principle embodied in the United States Constitution, including the speech and debate clause,” Feinstein said in her speech. “Besides the constitutional implications, the CIA search may also have violated the Fourth Amendment, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as Executive Order 12333, which prohibits the CIA from conducting domestic searches or surveillance.”

Exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden accused Feinstein, a loud supporter of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, of selective outrage. “[I]t's equally if not more concerning that we're seeing another 'Merkel Effect,' where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it's a scandal when a politician finds out the same thing happens to them,” he said.

Code Pink activists took up that criticism, staging a hastily prepared theater performance in the senator’s office. An activist playing the role of “Pro-Spy Di-Fi” lauded the good work of the NSA while “Anti-Spy Di-Fi” condemned the CIA for snooping on her staff.

Feinstein reluctantly endorsed the USA Freedom Act – which would end the NSA's mass collection of U.S. phone records – earlier this year, following President Barack Obama’s pivot on the issue.

The intelligence committee approved its torture report in December 2012. It is undergoing a declassification process.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, who leaked the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record four decades ago, suggested in March that a member of the intelligence committee follow his lead and release the full document to the public, an action that would likely yield scorn from colleagues but for which members of Congress would face no penalties.



Update:

Feinstein is evidently pleased there won’t be an investigation into her claim the CIA broke the law.

“I’m delighted to hear that. I think it’s the right thing, and I gather they have dropped both investigations,” she told Roll Call on Thursday. “So that’s that, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Feinstein didn't mention the alleged CIA spying on her staff in a subsequent statement distributed by her office.