WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees expressed concern today about an unusual inquiry into the work of the Central Intelligence Agency’s inspector general, John L. Helgerson, saying that it could undermine his role as independent watchdog.

The inquiry was ordered by General Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director. Representative Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who is chairman of the House committee, called news of the inquiry “troubling,” noting that the inspector general’s independence is written into law.

“It is this independence that Congress established and will very aggressively preserve,” Mr. Reyes said in a statement.

Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said he was sending a letter to Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, asking him to instruct General Hayden to drop the inquiry.

“I just don’t want to see I.G.’s intimidated,” said Mr. Wyden, using the abbreviation for inspector general. “People who know they’re doing the right thing are not afraid of oversight.”

The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that General Hayden has turned the tables on Mr. Helgerson by directing a small team of top agency officials to examine the performance of the inspector general, whose office has conducted a series of tough investigations of C.I.A. counterterrorism programs.

Some current and former agency officials said such an inquiry was improper, because it could be viewed as an attempt by General Hayden to influence continuing investigations of agency programs. A spokesman for General Hayden said the goal of the inquiry was merely to help Mr. Helgerson do his work better.

Mr. Helgerson, who joined the C.I.A. as an intelligence analyst in 1971, was named inspector general by President Bush in 2002. In that role, he reports to both General Hayden and to Congress and can be removed only by the president.

Mr. Helgerson has frustrated and angered senior officers in the National Clandestine Service with what they consider to be unfair and drawn-out investigations of overseas operations.

Tensions arose over the inspector general’s examination of the shooting down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 based on the C.I.A.’s mistaken identification of the aircraft as one used by drug smugglers. Mr. Helgerson raised questions in 2004 about the legality of the agency’s harsh interrogation methods for Al Qaeda suspects and in 2005 issued a blistering report on the agency’s failure to prevent the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Wyden said General Hayden fought hard to prevent the inspector general’s Sept. 11 report from becoming public. Ultimately Congress passed legislation requiring the release of the report, and it was made public in August of this year.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/washington/12cnd-cia.html?hp