If approved by Senate, Gina Hospel will become the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), making her the first female leader of the CIA.
Hospel is a career intelligence officer with more than 30 years experience in the CIA, including running a prison in Thailand where suspected al-Qaeda members were tortured by waterboarding in 2002.
The so-called black sites which were secret overseas locations where the CIA carried out what it termed “enhanced interrogation” techniques were closed by former U.S. President Barack Obama.
In his campaign, President Donald Trump has been supportive of harsh interrogation techniques on suspects.
Despite having extensive overseas experience by serving as chief of a station on several postings, Haspel, 61, was also deputy director of the National Clandestine Service, which is part of the CIA that co-ordinates clandestine operations, as well as chief of staff for the director of the National Clandestine Service.
Last year she was picked to be deputy to CIA director Mike Pompeo, despite criticism of her history in “black sites.”
At the time, Pompeo described her as an “exemplary intelligence officer” with an “uncanny ability to get things done and to inspire those around her”.
She was picked as nominee for the top CIA job when President Trump named Pompeo as Secretary of State to replace Rex Tillerson.
“I am grateful to President Trump for the opportunity, and humbled by his confidence in me, to be nominated to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. If confirmed, I look forward to providing President Trump the outstanding intelligence support he has grown to expect during his first year in office,” she said in a statement.
Haspel’s appointment still needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said that her background makes her unsuitable, adding that “if Ms. Haspel seeks to serve at the highest levels of US intelligence, the government can no longer cover up disturbing facts from her past.”
According to BBC News, the black site in Thailand run by Haspel oversaw the interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Declassified CIA documents showed that Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in one month and had his head slammed into walls.
He was also subjected to sleep deprivation and other harsh methods before interrogators decided he had no useful information to disclose, the documents said.
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