Gina Haspel pledged on Wednesday to not bring back harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding if she is confirmed as the next director of the CIA.
“I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership, on my watch, the CIA will not restart detention and interrogation program,” she told lawmakers in her opening remarks during her Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing.
“CIA does not today conduct interrogations and we’re not getting back in that business,” Haspel said.
Haspel, who faces opposition from most Senate Democrats, has been under scrutiny for her key role in the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques during the George W. Bush administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
She added in her prepared remarks that the CIA was not prepared for the detention and interrogation program, and it has been one of the “lessons learned” for the agency.
“The CIA has learned some tough lessons from that experience. We were asked to tackle a mission that fell outside our expertise,” she said.
Sen. Mark Warner, the committee’s top Democrat, pressed her on whether she thought the CIA’s actions after 9/11 were consistent with American values.
Haspel dodged, saying, “I would never do it again.”
“We have decided to hold ourselves to a stricter moral standard,” she said. “I support the United States holding itself to that stricter moral standard. I would never, ever take the CIA back to an interrogation program.”
He then asked what she would do if President Trump asked her to do something she found to be “morally objectionable.”
“What will you do? Will you carry out that option, that order, or not?” the Virginia Democrat asked.
“Senator, my moral compass is strong. I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal. I would absolutely not permit it,” Haspel said. “I believe that CIA must undertake activities that are consistent with American values.”
In a separate exchange with Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Haspel appeared to sidestep questions about how she would respond if Trump issued a direct order to waterboard a terrorism suspect in CIA custody.
“I would advise I do not believe the president would ask me to do that,” Haspel told Collins, noting that the CIA is responsible for “debriefing” detainees and typically leaves the interrogation process to FBI agents or Defense Department officials.
“There’s a big difference between interrogation and simple questions and answers,” she said.
Haspel, 61, has been with the CIA for 33 years. She faces scrutiny for allowing waterboarding of detainees at a secret CIA detention facility in Thailand in 2002.
Haspel is also on the hot seat for what she knew about the destruction of nearly 100 videotapes of interrogation sessions by Jose Rodriquez, then the director of the National Clandestine Service, in 2005.
