WASHINGTON — Five CIA personnel involved in searching computers used by Senate staffers to compile a scathing report on the torture of detainees didn’t break the law, had good reasons to conduct the searches and shouldn’t be penalized, said an agency accountability board report released Wednesday.

The findings contradicted those of the CIA Inspector General’s Office and charges by former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein that the searches possibly violated the law and the Constitution, casting in an awkward light an apology for the intrusions made by CIA Director John Brennan in July.

While it only reviewed the CIA’s conduct, the board implied that it was Feinstein’s staffers who violated CIA guidelines governing the use of the computers by accessing highly classified, “privileged” agency documents that they were not authorized to have.

“The board found that no discipline was warranted for the five CIA personnel under review because they acted reasonably under the complex and unprecedented circumstances involved in investigating a potential security breach.