Gina Haspel did not face much scrutiny on Wednesday, as it was expected in her highly anticipated testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Haspel, who as a career CIA officer spent over three decades undercover, did not flicker while being questioned by Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, as well as others who were interested about her role in the agency’s controversial post-9/11 interrogation and detention program. She defended the agency’s counterterror activities and her own “moral compass,” as the Democrats pressed her on the morality of torture and criticized her for providing “legalistic” answers.
“I believe that CIA did extraordinary work to prevent another attack on this country given the legal tools that we were authorized to use,” Haspel said. “What I believe sitting here today is that I support the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves to.”
According to Bloomberg, Haspel vowed that the CIA would not return to the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques under her leadership, arguing that the agency lacks the expertise to conduct interrogations and that she does not believe “torture works,” as President Donald Trump has previously stated.
However, she added, “We got valuable information from debriefing of al Qaeda detainees and I don’t think it’s knowable whether interrogation techniques played a role in that.”
When asked if she would follow an immoral order from the president, Haspel answered that she would not.
“I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that was immoral, even if it was technically legal,” she said.
The first hearing lasted just under three hours, after which lawmakers and Haspel went behind closed doors for the classified portion of the hearing. During the hearing, pink-clad protesters were arrested, of whom some were dragged forcibly from the hall as they shouted “Bloody Gina!” and “She’s a torturer!”
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