The Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday voted in favor of Gina Haspel becoming the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency, smoothing her way to a probable confirmation by the full Senate as early as this week, despite the bitter debate over her role in torture used by the US on terrorist suspects.
Two crucial Democratic senators had announced on Tuesday that they would support Haspel, Donald Trump’s nomination to lead the spy agency , in a move that immediately tipped the balanced towards her being confirmed.
Herchances had been shaky since a hearing on Capitol Hill last week, amid an intense public debate on the use of torture, including at a secret prison for terrorism suspects in Thailand that Haspel oversaw during the war that followed the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in the US on September 11 2001.
The committee vote on Wednesday resulted in 10 in favor, five against recommending full Congressional confirmation.
All eight Republicans and two of the seven Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee supported Haspel. The remaining five Democrats had already announced their opposition and did not change their minds. Haspel took pains to tell Senators she would not agree to restart such an interrogation program in future, but she has avoided decrying torture as immoral per se.
On Tuesday, Mark Warner, a Virginia senator and the senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, and Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota both announced they would back Haspel.
Haspel, a career intelligence officer, faced questions over her work running a covert detention site where terror suspects were brutally interrogated in the years after the 9/11 attacks. Senators also want more information about her role destroying videos of the torture sessions.
Earlier on Tuesday, in a letter written by Haspel to Warner, Haspel wrote: “I have learned the hard lessons since 9/11.With the benefit of hindsight and my experience as a senior agency leader, the enhanced interrogation program is not one the CIA should have undertaken.”
Heitkamp released a statement on Tuesday saying her support had not been an easy decision but she was well respected by the agency’s rank and file and intelligence officials.
“It’s clear Ms Haspel has the experience and temperament to be an effective CIA director,” Heitkamp said.
At a hearing last week, Haspel repeatedly refused to say if she thought torture was immoral. Senator John McCain of Arizona said her role “in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.”
McCain’s comments sparked a fresh debate over now banned torture techniques. The former vice-president Dick Cheney, who was integral to the post-9/11 strategy, said that if it were up to him, “I’d do it again.”
Donald Trump has expressed support for interrogation techniques such as waterboarding – simulated drowning. During the 2016 campaign, he promised to “bring back … a hell of a lot worse”.
Haspel did say in her Senate hearing she thought torture did not work as an interrogation technique and her “strong moral compass” would prevent her restarting such a program.
In her letter to Warner, Haspel wrote: “The United States must be an example to the rest of the world, and I support that.”