Pick for first female CIA boss ran torture site
THE first female director of the CIA is a career spymaster who once ran a secret prison in Thailand and was involved in destroying videos of terrorism suspects being waterboarded.
Gina Haspel was in charge of the “black site” where alleged terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-rahim alnashiri were waterboarded in 2002. She helped carry out an order to destroy interrogation videos, leading to a US Justice Department investigation, though no charges were brought.
Ms Haspel was appointed deputy director of the CIA last year in a controversial confirmation by the US Senate. Her promotion could prove even more difficult to approve.
Ms Haspel joined the CIA in 1985 and was a foreign chief of station, spending much of her career undercover.
The Thai prison was the agency’s first overseas detention facility and she oversaw interrogations which included Zubaydah being waterboarded 83 times. Colleagues have described Ms Haspel as “widely respected” within the agency.