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CIA nominee under scrutiny
Democrat slams CIA nominee for lack of disclosure
Democrats say too little is known about Gina Haspel’s 33-year career as a spy.
WASHINGTON — On Monday, nearly two months after President Donald Trump nominated Gina Haspel to lead the CIA, a stack of binders full of classified material about her three decades as a U.S. spy was delivered to a secure room on Capitol Hill.
The question is whether the last-minute peek will be enough to satisfy skeptics on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is expected to grill Haspel at her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, or in the full Senate, which then will decide if she becomes the first woman to run the intelligence agency.
Trump reiterated his support Monday after The Washington Post revealed that Haspel had considered withdrawing her nomination to avoid damage to the CIA. In a tweet, Trump called her “highly respected” and said Democrats opposed her “because she is too tough on terror.”
At issue is Haspel’s stillunexplained role after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when she briefly ran a then-secret CIA prison in Thailand. Two terrorism suspects were waterboarded and subjected to other forms of abuse at the facility — one before Haspel arrived, one while she was there in 2002 — in an effort to gain useful intelligence.
The CIA later banned those so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which critics called torture. It has refused to say precisely whether Haspel was directly involved in their use, or her views on them.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized Haspel on Monday for not disclosing more about her 33 years at the CIA. “The agency has opened itself up to the criticism that it is only releasing favorable materials while suppressing related items that could reflect negatively,” he wrote to Haspel, who is now the CIA’s acting director, in a letter obtained by the Washington Bureau.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the committee, also called for greater disclosure.
“This is not how you run a democracy,” he said in a telephone interview. “In a democracy, if there are no sources and methods involved, you have an open debate about nominees. I have read the classified material. I believe a significant amount can be declassified without compromising our country’s security. And senators need to answer to an informed public.”
U.S. intelligence officials have defended keeping Haspel’s record secret, arguing that it’s appropriate for senators to review her classified background behind closed doors before making a decision.
Haspel’s confirmation is far from assured, and she may need Democratic votes because Republicans have only a slim majority and support from several remains in doubt. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has vowed to oppose her, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is being treated for brain cancer in Arizona.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whom Haspel would replace at the CIA, faced a similar problem before he was confirmed last month. But Paul dropped his resistance, as did Democrats facing reelection battles this November in states that voted handily for Trump.
As with Pompeo, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hasn’t directed members of his caucus to vote one way or another on Haspel. That could allow some Democrats political breathing room to back her. None has publicly supported her so far.
Haspel has drawn support from current and former colleagues in the intelligence community. In statements, interviews, podcasts and letters, dozens have publicly backed her nomination.
Many former intelligence leaders who have raised concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and Trump’s reluctance to confront the issue — are strong supporters of Haspel.
The White House has touted their backing, even blasting out quotes from James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama, whom Trump has criticized as among “the biggest liars and leakers in Washington.”
“She is capable, smart, very experienced, well respected by the Agency rank and file, and a great person,” Clapper wrote on the Cipher Brief, a website focused on intelligence issues.
The CIA recently released a bare-bones resume for Haspel, which includes job titles but few details other than noting that she joined in 1985 and was posted to Africa and Eastern Europe during the waning days of the Cold War.
It said she grew increasingly concerned about terrorism in the 1990s and joined the CIA’s counterterrorism program on the same day jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
She remained undercover until February 2017, when she was named deputy director. She became acting director on April 26 after Pompeo started at the State Department.
The CIA also declassified a 2011 memo that said Haspel did not break any rules in 2005 when she helped destroy video recordings of brutal interrogations at the “black site” in Thailand.