This article is more than
6 year old
United States
US Senate confirms Gina Haspel as first female CIA director
May 17, 2018 at 23:06
The U.S. Senate confirmed Gina Haspel on Thursday to be director of the CIA, ending a bruising confirmation fight centered on her ties to the spy agency's past use of waterboarding and other brutal interrogation techniques
Haspel, who will be the first woman director of the CIA, is a 33-year veteran at the agency currently serving as its acting director. As senators continued to vote, the tally was 51-43 in favor of her nomination in the 100-member chamber, where a simple majority was required for confirmation.
Haspel was approved despite stiff opposition over her links to the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning widely considered torture, in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks.
An undercover officer for most of her CIA career, Haspel in 2002 served as CIA station chief in Thailand, where the agency conducted interrogations at a secret prison using methods including waterboarding. Three years later, she drafted a cable ordering the destruction of videotapes of those interrogations.
Republican Senator John McCain, who has been away from Washington all year as he battles brain cancer, urged the Senate not to vote for Haspel.
Tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain said approving Haspel would send the wrong message, and the country should only use methods to keep itself safe “as right and just as the values we aspire to live up to and promote in the world.”
Haspel also had strong support from Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, many current and former intelligence officials and a wide range of lawmakers, including Democrats.
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, which oversaw the nomination, supported Haspel.
“I believe she is someone who can and will stand up to the president, who will speak truth to power if this president orders her to do something illegal or immoral, like a return to torture,” he said in a Senate speech before the vote.
(REUTERS)
Haspel was approved despite stiff opposition over her links to the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning widely considered torture, in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks.
An undercover officer for most of her CIA career, Haspel in 2002 served as CIA station chief in Thailand, where the agency conducted interrogations at a secret prison using methods including waterboarding. Three years later, she drafted a cable ordering the destruction of videotapes of those interrogations.
PHILIP CROWTHER REPORTS FROM WASHINGTON
Tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain said approving Haspel would send the wrong message, and the country should only use methods to keep itself safe “as right and just as the values we aspire to live up to and promote in the world.”
Haspel also had strong support from Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, many current and former intelligence officials and a wide range of lawmakers, including Democrats.
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, which oversaw the nomination, supported Haspel.
“I believe she is someone who can and will stand up to the president, who will speak truth to power if this president orders her to do something illegal or immoral, like a return to torture,” he said in a Senate speech before the vote.
(REUTERS)
Keywords
Newer articles
In case you missed it
Huge blow for TikTok in US court
Huge blow for Trump in hush money case
Drones are buzzing around US military bases, even forcing one to close its airspace. They reflect a growing problem.
How rich musicians billed American taxpayers for luxury hotels, shopping sprees, and million-dollar bonuses
Elon Musk net worth more than Bezos and Zuckerberg combined
Igor Kirillov: Russia's chemical weapons chief and mouthpiece killed in Moscow
Supreme Court to Consider TikTok Ban
FRESH HOPE: Huge update announced in search for MH370
Trump meeting with TikTok CEO at Mar-a-Lago as company asks Supreme Court to intervene in fight over federal ban