Washington, January 10 (RHC),-- The inspector general of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who had raised some serious concerns about the conduct of the spy agency is resigning at the end of January.

David Buckley, who has served as the CIA's internal watchdog for more than four years, investigated a dispute between the agency and Congress over the handling of records of the CIA's torture programs.

CIA and congressional officials said his resignation was unrelated to politics or his investigations.

Civil liberties groups said Buckley's departure at such a time was unfortunate. "The CIA inspector general is one of the few people who has tried to impose some accountability on the CIA at a time when the White House and many in Congress are failing to do their oversight jobs," said Christopher Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said Buckley had "raised some serious concerns about the conduct of the CIA in trying to thwart the Senate Intelligence Committee ... The lack of repercussions is very troubling and his departure so soon afterwards is troublesome."

Last month, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released a drastically redacted summary of its voluminous report on the CIA's torture program during the George W. Bush administration. According to the Senate report, the CIA misled Congress and the White House about the harsh methods such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, mock executions and threats that the relatives of the prisoners would be sexually abused.