The heads of House and Senate Intelligence committees called for an investigation into the leak of a foiled al-Qaida plot to take down an airliner.

On “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the leak was “serious” and put people involved in the operation at risk.

“It certainly jeopardizes our ability to relate to other countries and for other countries to help us, and it gives a tip-off to [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula] to be more careful about who they use as their couriers, as their bombers,” she said. “So the leak did endanger sources and methods, and the leak I think has to be prosecuted.”

Feinstein said she hopes criminal charges will be filed with the Department of Justice when the investigation is complete.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, echoed her remarks on “Face the Nation.”

He noted that the CIA tried to persuade the Associated Press not to publish the story while the White House may have scheduled a press conference on it.

“Those two disparate positions leads one to believe that someone was at odds about how much they should or shouldn’t talk about it,” he said.

Rogers said the leak could have jeopardized U.S. intelligence relations with other countries as well as the lives of the people involved in the operation.

“This is not anything that should be used for a headline,” he said.