Trump’s pick for new CIA chief likely to face questions about torture of terrorism suspects
If confirmed, Gina Haspel will become the first female to lead the spy agency, but the years she spent at a secret site where waterboarding allegedly took place will be closely scrutinised
President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next director of the CIA is a career spymaster who oversaw torture at a secret prison during one of the darkest chapters in the agency’s history. And if confirmed, 61-year-old Gina Haspel will become the first female head of the intelligence agency.
She is described by colleagues as a seasoned veteran with 30-plus years of intelligence experience who would lead the agency with integrity. But it is the few years she spent supervising a secret black site that will be closely scrutinised at her confirmation hearing.
Trump announced on Tuesday that he had chosen Haspel to succeed Mike Pompeo, who is replacing Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. She joined the CIA in 1985 and has been deputy director of the agency since February 2017.
Between 2003 and 2005, Haspel oversaw a secret CIA prison in Thailand where terror suspects Abu Zubayadah and Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded, current and former US intelligence officials said. Waterboarding is a process that simulates drowning and is widely considered to be a form of torture. Haspel also helped carry out an order to destroy waterboarding videos, which prompted a lengthy Justice Department investigation that ended without charges.
Trump has said he would reintroduce waterboarding and “a lot worse”, but there is no indication that his decision to pick Haspel signals a desire to restart the harsh interrogation and detention programme. He would face steep legal and legislative hurdles if he tried.