Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, on Wednesday affirmed that, should she be confirmed, she will not bring back the agency’s controversial rendition, detainee and interrogation (RDI) program.
“I can offer you my personal commitment clearly, and without reservation, that under my leadership, on my watch, CIA will not restart a detention and interrogation program. CIA has learned some tough lessons from that experience,” Haspel said during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “We were asked to tackle a mission that fell outside our expertise. For me, there is no better example of implementing lessons learned than what CIA took away from that program.”
Haspel, poised to potentially become the first woman to head the CIA, is facing tough questions during the hearing about her reported role in the CIA’s “black sites” — overseas prisons the agency used to hold top al Qaeda terrorists.
Under tough questioning from ranking Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, Haspel she reiterated the promise, “I would never ever take CIA back to an interrogation program”.
Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr also hit a hard topic head-on: her role in ordering the destruction of video recordings of some of the detainee interrogations at the CIA’s black sites.
For five minutes, Haspel recited what seemed like a prepared answer to Burr’s questions.
She provided a narrative about how her role had been to draft a memo at the request of her boss Jose Rodriguez, and that it was he who unilaterally made the decision to destroy the tapes. She cited legal opinions at CIA from the general counsel and the inspector general that there was no legal requirement to keep the video recordings since there were written transcripts of the interrogations.
The mood in the room was tense.
Several protesters were escorted out of the hearing room by police after they began yelling anti-torture chants.
The party division over her nomination played out before she spoke in the opening statements by the top Republican and Democratic senators in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
In his opening remarks, Burr expressed support for her nomination, calling her “the most qualified person the president could have chosen” to become CIA director.
“Some may seek to turn this into a trial about a long-shuttered program,” he said, noting that the CIA’s rendition, program and interrogation program has already been addressed in the past. He said anyone who has those questions should address them to former presidents and senior officials.
Ranking Democrat Mark Warner also praised her qualifications but questioned the message sent by having someone involved in the CIA’s controversial programs to lead the agency.
Warner noted the concerns about an attack after the 9/11 attacks. She said that “what I am not willing to do, however, is to justify this dark period in our history or to sweep away the decision to engage in torture. I believe the RDI program was wrong, and we need to make sure that it never happens again.”
He said he wants to hear her views on those programs and whether they were consistent with American values.
But he also wanted to hear how she “would react if the president asks you to carry out some morally questionable behavior that might seem to violate a law or treaty. How will you respond if a secret DOJ opinion authorizes such behavior and gives you a ‘get out of jail free’ card?”
“On that day, if you are ordered to take actions that are inconsistent with American values, will you say ‘yes’ and follow orders?” Warner asked. “Will you keep Congress in the dark?”
“Ms. Haspel, I encourage you to take these issues seriously and to address them at length. My vote on your confirmation will be greatly influenced by how you address these questions today.”
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