WASHINGTON – Gina Haspel, nominated by President Donald Trump to lead theCIA, is a black ops veteran who once ran a secret interrogation operationin Thailand accused of torturing detainees.
If approved by the Senate, Haspel would be the first woman ever to run theCentral Intelligence Agency.
Despite a controversial past, her rise is not surprising — she previouslyserved as CIA deputy director and led worldwide undercover spyingoperations, a CIA mission that has gained renewed importance in recentyears.
Haspel, 61, joined the spy agency in 1985 and served as chief of station inseveral posts around the world.
Rising through the ranks, she earned the job of deputy director of theNational Clandestine Service, and was finally named to be service directorin 2013.
But she was quickly replaced after political questions were raised over herrole in post-9/11 interrogation operations, which involved methods widelydeemed to be torture, such as waterboarding.
Her fortunes changed under Trump, who has expressed support for use oftorture in interrogations.
Mike Pompeo, then the new CIA chief, rejected protests over her backgroundand made Haspel his number two. Her appointment earned the support ofnumerous former senior US intelligence officials.
But the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing to confirm her for the topCIA post could be rocky.
One member, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, has already said he will opposeher nomination.
“Ms Haspel’s background makes her unsuitable to serve as CIA director,” hesaid Tuesday.
“If Ms Haspel seeks to serve at the highest levels of US intelligence, thegovernment can no longer cover up disturbing facts from her past.”
– ‘Secret Thailand prison’ –
Haspel’s public reputation is based on her association with the “blacksite” prison run by the CIA in Thailand from 2002 for post-9/11 detainees.
Media reports said she presided over the torture of key al-Qaeda suspectsAbu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri who were interrogated andrepeatedly waterboarded at the site.
The CIA has always maintained that what it did was legal.
“As has been well-documented, the former detention and interrogationprogram was authorized by President [George W] Bush six days after 9/11,reviewed and determined to be lawful by the Justice Department, andimplemented by the CIA,” the agency said last year in a statement.
Haspel was later accused of the 2005 destruction of the CIA’s videotapes ofthose sessions. Lawyers for Al-Qaeda detainees had sought the tapes forevidence in court cases.
She was later cleared of wrongdoing — officials said she had just followedorders in destroying the tapes.
Torture has since been explicitly outlawed by the government, and despiteTrump’s endorsement of it, there have been no reports of the USintelligence agencies returning to the practice.
– Russia, Korea, leaks –
Under Haspel the CIA faces a number of challenges, foremost North Korea.The agency has been behind the curve in assessing what Kim Jong Un is upto, a particular challenge now that Kim has invited Trump for talks onpossible denuclearization.
The agency also is under constant pressure from Trump to assess Iran’scompliance with its nuclear commitments; Trump has repeatedly attacked thenuclear deal and sought evidence to support ending it.
Russia is another thorny problem for the new CIA director. She will bereporting to a president who has soft-pedalled the threat from Moscow andscorns intelligence that it interfered in the US elections.
The CIA and other agencies also have struggled to deal with leaks of someof their crucial cyber spying tools and other data, often blamed on thesprawling intelligence contractor industry around Washington on which theyincreasingly depend. – APP /AFP