Gina Haspel role in the CIA’s torture of terrorism suspects

Gina Haspel could become the first woman to run the agency, but her confirmation hearings may focus more on her role in the CIA’s torture of terrorism suspects

Gina Cheri Haspel (born 1956/1957)^[1] is an American intelligence officer appointed as the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DD/CIA) by U.S. PresidentDonald Trump in February 2017.^[2][3][4] On March 13, 2018, Haspel was nominated by President Trump for CIA Director, to succeed Mike Pompeo. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first female CIA Director.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Haspel has attracted controversy for her role as chief of a CIA black site in Thailand in 2002 in which prisoners were tortured.^{[8][9][10][11]} She has been described as a torturer by The New York Times editorial board^[12] and accused of being a war criminal.^[13][14]

Torture controversy

Haspel ran a "black site" CIA torture prison located in Thailand in 2002.^[28][29] 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.^[15][19] 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).^[17] 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 torture of detainee Abu Zubaydah.^[30]

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.^[31]

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.^[32][33][34] Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union described Haspel as "quite literally a war criminal."^[13]