Gina Cheri Haspel (born October 1, 1956[citation needed]) is an American intelligence officer serving as the Deputy Director of theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA), appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2017.[1][2][3] On March 13, 2018, Haspel was nominated by President Trump for CIA Director, to succeed Mike Pompeo. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate , she would be the first female CIA Director.[2][3][4][5][6]
Haspel has attracted controversy for her role as chief of a CIA black site in Thailand in 2002 in which prisoners were tortured.[7][8][9][10]
Service with CIA[edit]
Haspel joined the CIA in 1985 and has held several top positions in the agency, including deputy director of the National Clandestine Service.[11]
Haspel later was the chief of staff to Jose Rodriguez, who headed the CIA'sCounterterrorism Center. In his memoir, Rodriguez wrote that Haspel had "drafted a cable" in 2005 ordering the destruction of dozens of videotapes made at the black site in Thailand.[12]
Deputy Director National Clandestine Service[edit]
In 2013, John Brennan, then the director of Central Intelligence, named Haspel as acting Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Service, which carries out covert operations around the globe.[13] However, she was denied the position permanently due to criticism about her involvement in the Rendition, Detention and Interrogation program.[14] Haspel has also served as the Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Service for Foreign Intelligence and Covert Action.[15]
Deputy Director[edit]
On February 2, 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Haspel deputy director of the CIA.[16] In an official statement released that day, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said:[17]
With more than thirty years of service to the CIA and extensive overseas experience, Gina has worked closely with the House Intelligence Committee and has impressed us with her dedication, forthrightness, and her deep commitment to the Intelligence Community. She is undoubtedly the right person for the job, and the Committee looks forward to working with her in the future.
On February 8, 2017, several members of the Senate intelligence committee urged Trump to reconsider his appointment of Haspel as Deputy Director.[18] Senator Sheldon Whitehouse quoted colleagues Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich who were on the committee:
I am especially concerned by reports that this individual was involved in the unauthorized destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, which documented the CIA's use of torture against two CIA detainees. My colleagues Senators Wyden and Heinrich have stated that classified information details why the newly appointed Deputy Director is 'unsuitable' for the position and have requested that this information be declassified. I join their request.
On February 15, 2017, Spencer Ackerman reported on psychologists Bruce Jessen andJames Mitchell, the architects of the enhanced interrogation program that was designed to break Zubaydah and was subsequently used on other detainees at the CIA's secret prisons around the world. Jessen and Mitchell are being sued by Sulaiman Abdulla Salim,Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and Obaid Ullah over torture designed by the psychologists. Jessen and Mitchell are seeking to compel Haspel, and her colleague James Cotsana, to testify on their behalf.[19][20]
Nomination as Director[edit]
On March 13, 2018, President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he will nominate Haspel to be the CIA director, which would make her the first female permanent CIA director.[21]
Torture allegations[edit]
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Haspel ran a "black site" CIA torture prison located in Thailand in 2002.[15][22] The site was codenamed "Cat's Eye" and held suspected al Qaeda terrorist members Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah for a time. The Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture specifies that during their detention at the site they were waterboarded and interrogated using no-longer-authorized methods.[11][12] Declassified CIA cables specify that Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in a month, was sleep deprived, kept in a "large box", had his head slammed against a wall, and he lost his left eye. Zubaydah was deemed, by the CIA interrogators, to not be in possession of any useful intelligence (Interrogation of Abu Zubaydah).[23] Haspel was “directly involved in its controversial interrogation program” and had an “extensive role” in torturing detainees. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture detailed the central role she played in the particularly gruesome torture of detainee Abu Zubaydah.[24]
Haspel played a role in the destruction of interrogation videotapes that showed the torture of detainees both at the black site she ran and other secret agency locations.[25]
On December 17, 2014, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights(ECCHR) pressed criminal charges against unidentified CIA operatives, after the US Senate Select Committee published its report on torture by US intelligence agencies.
On June 7, 2017, the ECCHR called on the Public Prosecutor General of Germany to issue an arrest warrant against Haspel over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects. The accusation against her is centered on the case of Saudi national Abu Zubaydah.[26][27][28]
Haspel has received a number of awards, including the George H. W. Bush Award for excellence in counterterrorism[29], the Donovan Award, the Intelligence Medal of Merit, and the Presidential Rank Award.[30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel
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