US Senate confirms Gina Haspel to lead CIA

The US Senate confirmed Gina Haspel on Thursday to be the country's first female director of the CIA, despite her ties to the agency's past controversial interrogation program.


The confirmation comes a day after the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 10-5 in favor of Haspel to lead the agency.

Haspel was confirmed in a 54-45 vote on Thursday. While three Republican senators opposed her nomination, Haspel secured enough votes with the backing of six Democrats.

The nomination came under fire for Haspel's past ties to the CIA's former rendition, detention and interrogation activities, carried out in the years following the Sept. 11 attacks, with the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding, now widely considered torture.

In 2002, Haspel supervised a secret prison in Thailand where harsh interrogations were conducted and she destroyed CIA interrogation tapes years later. Her specific role in the program remains classified.
 (chinamedia)
 18/5/18