National Post (National Edition)
‘My moral compass is strong’: Haspel
CIA nominee promises clean break from past
WASHINGTON • Gina Haspel, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, promised she wouldn’t resort to waterboarding and other harsh techniques that she once helped supervise, but she repeatedly refused to disavow their past use as immoral or ineffective.
“Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership, on my watch, CIA will not restart a detention and interrogation program,” Haspel told the Senate Intelligence Committee at her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
While Haspel has the backing of many current and former intelligence officials after three decades with the Central Intelligence Agency — and now appears to have the votes needed for confirmation on the Senate floor — human rights groups and some former military and intelligence officials say her role in “enhanced interrogation” programs hasn’t been fully disclosed or explained.
The career CIA officer sat calmly as her confirmation hearing was twice interrupted by protesters, one in a suit, who were dragged away after shouting “Bloody Gina!” and “You’re a torturer!”
Senator Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, asked Haspel four times: “Do you believe the previous interrogation techniques were immoral?” Haspel said only that the CIA did “extraordinary work” to prevent another attack on the U.S. after Sept. 11, using the legal tools the agency was provided.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s senior Democrat, told Haspel her pledge that she’d follow the law “is not enough.”
He said she must explain how she’d react if Trump — who has said in the past that “torture works” — “asks you to carry out some morally questionable behaviour that might seem to violate a law or treaty.”
Haspel said that “my moral compass is strong” and that “I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral even if it was technically legal.”
Haspel may have secured the key vote needed when Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat facing a tough re-election campaign, announced he found her “to be a person of great character” and would vote for her. At least one Democratic vote is needed in the closely divided chamber.