First woman to head CIA oversaw torture at Thai prison
Career spy Gina Haspel once ran secret jail where terror suspects were beaten, waterboarded
WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice to be the first female director of the CIA is a career spymaster who once ran an agency prison in Thailand where terror suspects were subjected to waterboarding, a torture technique that the president has supported.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that CIA Director Mike Pompeo will replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and that he has selected Gina Haspel to replace Pompeo. Haspel, the current deputy CIA director, also helped carry out an order that the agency destroy its waterboarding videos. That order prompted a lengthy Justice Department investigation that ended without charges.
Trump said Haspel is an “outstanding person.” She’s also well respected by intelligence professionals, who have called her a patriot and an exceptional leader who brings creativity, savvy and grit to her job every day.
“I am grateful to President Trump for the opportunity, and humbled by his confidence in me,” Haspel said.
Haspel didn’t have to face a Senate confirmation hearing when she became deputy director of the agency in February 2017. To be director, she’ll have to be confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee. That will likely mean questions about one of the darkest periods of the CIA’s history.
Haspel briefly ran a secret CIA prison where accused terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri were water- boarded in 2002, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Waterboarding is a process that simulates drowning and is widely considered to be torture. Zubaydah alone was waterboarded 83 times in a single month, had his head repeatedly slammed into walls and endured other harsh methods before interrogators decided he had no useful information to provide.
The interrogations of both men were videotaped and the recordings stored in a safe at the CIA station in Thailand until 2005, when they were ordered destroyed. By then, Haspel was serving at CIA headquarters, and it was her name that was on the cable carrying the destruction orders.
More than a decade after waterboarding was last used, the CIA is still haunted by the legacy of a tactic that the U.S. government regarded as torture.
Sen. Richard Burr, the chairperson of the Senate commit- tee that will vote whether to confirm Haspel, said she has the “right skill set, experience and judgment” to lead the CIA.
But one fellow Republican, Sen. John McCain, said Haspel must explain the nature and extent of her involvement in the CIA’s interrogation program.
“Current U.S. law is clear in banning enhanced interrogation techniques,” said McCain, who was beaten as a prisoner during the Vietnam War. “Any nominee for director of the CIA must pledge without reserva- tion to uphold this prohibition.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee’s top Democrat, cited Haspel’s “impressive record,” but also said she must outline if she would comply with any presidential order bringing back waterboarding and other such techniques. Trump has spoken about reintroducing waterboarding and “a lot worse,” but would face steep legal and legislative hurdles to do so.