FCNL Condemns Senate Vote Confirming Gina Haspel for CIA

On May 17, 2018, the Senate voted 54-45 to approve the nomination of Gina Haspel as the next director of the CIA. This vote is a set-back for our country and a dangerous endorsement of torture.

Gina Haspel Confirmation:

Gina Haspel has been confirmed to lead the CIA. React to your senators’ votes.

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We want to thank 45 senators who voted against this nominee, as well as Senator John McCain (AZ), who opposed the nominee but was unable to cast a vote. In an indication of senators’ concern about Gina Haspel’s involvement in our country’s torture program, this is the most opposition to a CIA Director nominee since 1951. Please write your senators to thank those who voted against this nominee and express your disappointment to those senators who supported Gina Haspel.

Although the CIA refused to release the full record of Gina Haspel’s action relating to torture, public reports demonstrate that Ms. Haspel was deeply involved in the CIA’s torture program, which started after the attacks on 9/11. In late 2002, Ms. Haspel ran a black site prison in Thailand where at least one terrorism suspect was waterboarded and subject to brutal interrogation techniques. She was also involved in destroying video evidence of these interrogations in 2005 despite knowing that White House legal counsel did not want the evidence destroyed.

As a Quaker organization, we believe torture is wrong. Always.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report on the use of torture after 9/11 condemned these programs in very clear terms. Although the government choose not to prosecute those involved in these programs, the Senate should not promote any individual who was as deeply involved in carrying out and covering up a program that was both immoral and illegal under international law.

During her confirmation hearing, and even in written responses she sent to senators after the hearing, Ms. Haspel was incapable of recognizing the immorality of the CIA’s now defunct torture program. The United States cannot equivocate on torture. And yet this is what they have done today.

Please take a moment to write your senators and let them to know that you are disappointed that the Senate has confirmed Gina Haspel to be the next leader of the CIA. Torture is wrong. Always.