Nine Senate Republicans on Wednesday pressed Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. not to investigate CIA interrogators who might have exceeded Justice Department legal guidance on acceptable techniques.

“The country would be better served if the Justice Department refocuses its priorities and allocates its resources to pressing matters — such as prosecuting the terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks — instead of contemplating legal action against the men and women who have dedicated their lives to protecting this country,” the group wrote in a letter to Holder.

It is not the first time lawmakers have weighed in on the plan for an investigation that Holder is reportedly contemplating. A Department of Justice spokeswoman said Tuesday “no decision has been made” about a probe.

But the trio of Republicans who spearheaded the letter are very senior: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona; Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee; and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

The other Republicans who signed the letter are Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, John Cornyn of Texas, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina.

The senators wrote that the Justice Department has already undertaken such a review, and a new investigation would “chill intelligence activities.

“The intelligence community will be left to wonder whether actions taken today in the interest of national security will be subject to legal recriminations when the political winds shift,” they said.

Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memos written during the Bush administration maintained that interrogators could acceptably use a number of harsh tactics such as waterboarding on suspected terrorists. But a CIA inspector general report due for release under court order by Aug. 24 reportedly found that interrogators sometimes went beyond those guidelines, using methods such as beating detainees.