WASHINGTON ― Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, says the agency shouldn’t have used its infamous enhanced interrogation techniques, a week after she repeatedly refused to take a stand on the program’s morality at her Senate confirmation hearing. “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.”At her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, Haspel told lawmakers she would not restart the agency’s torture program ― which included waterboarding ― if confirmed as the CIA’s director. In her Monday letter, Haspel said that she would refuse “to undertake any proposed activity that is contrary to my moral and ethical values.” The statement appeared to be aimed at skeptical senators who asked Haspel whether she would restart the program if ordered to do so by Trump. Warner, another key Democratic holdout, has been facing pressure at home from liberal activist groups to oppose Haspel. But he has also praised her qualifications and said last week during the public portion of her confirmation hearing that she needed to make the kind of disavowal of torture she made Tuesday.

Source: Huffington Post May 15, 2018 15:45 UTC