President Donald Trump nominated Gina Haspel, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency as well as its current deputy director, to lead the nation’s spy agency on Tuesday. Her nomination, which comes after CIA Director Mike Pompeo was selected to take over as secretary of state, has drawn new attention to the agency’s stance on torture.
If confirmed, Haspel would be the first female to lead the CIA, but she is a longtime veteran of the agency and has been at the center of some of its most heinous actions. Her history of both participating in, and being a party to, disturbing and inhumane behavior ignited widespread criticism of Trump’s choice, as she now awaits a confirmation by the Senate.
In 2002, Haspel ran one of a number of CIA “black site” torture prisons in which she oversaw the torture of two detained suspected terrorists and later attempted to destroy video evidence of the inhumane treatment, according to the Washington Post.
At the secret Thailand prison detainees were subjected to “waterboarding and other harrowing interrogation measures widely condemned as torture,” the Post noted.
One detainee Haspel oversaw the torture of was Abu Zubaydah, who was subjected to brutal interrogation methods and was waterboarded 83 times in just one month, The New York Times reported. He also had his head slammed into walls repeatedly and lost his left eye.
Trump’s appointment of Haspel comes after he fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday and announced his replacement would be Pompeo.
It also exemplifies Trump’s infatuation with torture, or at least with those have been privy to it. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to implement torture and disturbing interrogation tactics for anyone the U.S. detained.
She’s expected to face a contentious Senate hearing, and even received criticism from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who said she was involved in “was one of the darkest chapters in American history.”
John McCain on Haspel: Torture of detainees "was one of the darkest chapters in American history" and Haspel her involvement in this process. (She led a "black site" where people were waterboarded.) pic.twitter.com/nfjLkSqucN
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 13, 2018
It’s important to note, however, that Haspel’s nomination certainly not a major departure from how the CIA has operated in the past. She’s an insider that has been praised within the agency by both current and former officials.
“The building will love the fact that she’s an insider,” Mark Lowenthal, a former senior CIA officer, told the Post.
Many were quick to denounce Trump’s decision, and delivered a reminder of why her disturbing past may foreshadow a dark glimpse into the future of the Trump administration.
The new CIA director was a key part of the torture program and its illegal cover-up. Her name was on the Top Secret order demanding the destruction of tapes to prevent them being seen by Congress. Incredible. https://t.co/HjVHCPCbpo https://t.co/VamIGa1A8w
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 13, 2018
Gina Haspel was a central figure in one of the most illegal and shameful chapters in modern American history.https://t.co/zdqMnMHKGF
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 13, 2018
Here's McCain and Graham evaluating some of the activity CIA nominee Gina Haspel had a role in. "A stain on America's honor." pic.twitter.com/Scz5dCNsiu
— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) March 13, 2018
As Mike Pompeo replaces Rex Tillerson as the Sec. of State, Gina Haspel will be the new CIA Director
In 2017 the European Center for Constitutional Rights called on Germany's Public Prosecutor General to issue an arrest warrant against Haspel over claims she oversaw the torture
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 13, 2018
PRO: Gina Haspel breaks the glass ceiling
CON: …over the head of a detainee https://t.co/EoTSE6l4Pu
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 13, 2018
Gina Haspel, Trump's choice for new CIA director, oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects and later took part in an order to destroy videotapes documenting their brutal interrogations at a secret prison in Thailand.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 13, 2018
Gina Haspel could be in prison! But the Obama administration refused to prosecute the CIA's in-house war criminals.
— Sarah Jones (@onesarahjones) March 13, 2018
