WASHINGTON — CIA Director Michael V. Hayden has mounted a highly unusual challenge to the agency's chief watchdog, ordering an internal investigation of an inspector general who has issued a series of scathing reports sharply critical of top CIA officials, according to government officials familiar with the matter.
The move has prompted concerns that Hayden is seeking to rein in an inspector general who has used the office to bring harsh scrutiny of CIA figures including former Director George J. Tenet and undercover operatives running secret overseas prison sites.
The inquiry is focused on the conduct of CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson and his office. Officials said it was aimed in particular at evaluating whether his office was fair and impartial in its scrutiny of the agency's terrorist detention and interrogation programs. But officials said the probe also spanned other subjects and had expanded since it was launched several months ago.
U.S. intelligence officials who are concerned about the inquiry said it was unprecedented and could threaten the independence of the inspector general position. The probe "could at least lead to appearances he's trying to interfere with the IG, or intimidate the IG or get the IG to back off," said a U.S. official familiar with the probe.
Frederick P. Hitz, who served as the CIA's inspector general from 1990 to 1998, said the move would be perceived as an effort by Hayden "to call off the dogs."
"What it would lead to is an undercutting of the inspector general's authority and his ability to investigate allegations of wrongdoing," Hitz said. "The rank and file will become aware of it, and it will undercut the inspector general's ability to get the truth from them."
But other officials described the probe as a chance to turn the tables on an inspector general who has been accused by some of his targets of treating career officers unfairly and letting personal biases undermine his objectivity.
"There is across-the-board distrust with the IG function and disrespect for Helgerson, who many believe has a personal agenda on issues," said a former high-ranking CIA official who, like others interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the inspector general's work.
Helgerson, the former official said, "always went in with a presumption of guilt."
