CIA Director Nominee Gina Haspel walks to a holding room before heading to her next meeting, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 7, 2018. Haspel was meeting with senators today whose support could be key to her confirmation.

CIA Director Nominee Gina Haspel walks to a holding room before heading to her next meeting, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 7, 2018. Haspel was meeting with senators today whose support could be key to her confirmation. AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

The CIA Needs an Independent Thinker—Not Gina Haspel

Her torture-ridden track record suggests a history of poor judgment.

Forty-five years ago this month, in the wake of the Watergate break-ins involving former CIA personnel, the agency produced a report known as the “family jewels.” It contained the CIA’s accounting of incidents that it had engaged in, including operations that exceeded legislative limits. The report ran nearly 700 pages, and detailed operations against American journalists, assassination attempts, unauthorized experiments with LSD, break-ins, and more. When the report was leaked to the press, it sparked tremendous outrage and led to the creation of the congressional intelligence-oversight committees in order to try to stem future CIA excesses. Sadly, this would not be the last time that the agency would exceed its legal limits.

The CIA wields its impressive array of powers to ensure Americans’ security, and it does so with the least amount of oversight of any government agency. Presidents often turn to it to achieve foreign-policy objectives that are best done in secret. But the CIA’s can-do attitude has often gotten it into trouble when presidents have asked it to do things that push or exceed its  traditional boundaries. Because the agency operates in secrecy, it falls to its own leaders to provide self-restraint when senior political appointees ask it to go too far.

This is why Senate confirmations not only evaluate a nominee’s qualifications, but their judgment. The CIA’s history of straying beyond its mandate in the name of national security at the behest of its political leadership is key context as the Senate considers the nomination of Gina Haspel to be the director of the CIA. Her involvement in one of the darkest incidents in the agency’s past gives us an important window into her judgment.

Haspel herself was deeply involved in one of these incidents. In the wake of the attacks on 9/11, the CIA was tasked with operating a detention and interrogation program of suspected terrorists. Haspel oversaw one of these overseas facilities where at least one detainee was tortured. The use of these techniques was so reviled that the Senate overwhelmingly voted to ban their use in the future.

But Haspel's involvement did not end there. After the press first reported on the existence of these so-called “black sites,” she lobbied for the destruction of these tapes, penning the memo authorizing their destruction as the Senate voted on a proposal to investigate the torture program. The CIA has acknowledged that Haspel authored the memo authorizing the destruction of videotapes of these interrogations, despite investigations into the program by the Department of Justice and Congress. This destruction was a clear violation of federal law.

For many, Haspel’s direct participation in this controversial program is sufficient grounds to disqualify her from serving as the head of the CIA. Her supportershave argued that she was following legal guidance at the time, and that the destruction of the evidence was for the good of the agency.

At her confirmation hearing, Haspel will assuredly claim that she has learned the lessons of her involvement in the torture program. But this hearing is not just about how she behaved in the past. And her actions already indicate how she would react when confronted with future requests for operations that push past the boundaries designed to restrain the awesome powers of the CIA. Haspel's record shows that when asked to do something controversial against the clear limits set out in statute, treaty, or practice, she is all too ready to comply. While she may never be asked to restart the interrogation program, she might be asked to start other programs that would violate America’s values—things like targeting journalists, using foreign intelligence services to spy on political opponents, or running influence operations to sway the American people.

Haspel, a CIA professional, loyally follows the edicts of her political leadership. But that loyalty can be a liability now that we have leaders who chafe at the limits placed on government to prevent it from being used against its own people. We have a president who speaks admiringly of other heads of state who rewrite the rules to stay in power, who balks at punishing other nations for assassination attempts, who denigrates and threatens the free press, and who seeks to subvert American law enforcement and longs to use it as a tool against his political adversaries. In this environment, Haspel's loyalty is a liability. She would be an enabler of a president who would urge her to target his opposition and could push the agency back to the days of the family jewels. To keep the CIA from yet another round of controversial programs, senators should be wary of someone who is so thoroughly a company creature.

NEXT STORY: Iran Hawks Are the New Iraq Hawks

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.