Gina Haspel Confirmed As CIA Director

WASHINGTON, DC — The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Gina Haspel to be to the new CIA director.

A career CIA officer, Haspel, 61, will be the first woman to lead the agency. She was nominated to the position after Mike Pompeo was tapped by President Trump to be the next Secretary of State.

Haspel's nomination to the post was controversial due to her role in overseeing a CIA detention center where suspects were tortured. According to The Associated Press, Haspel oversaw the clandestine prison in Thailand at some point in 2002. Two suspected terrorists were waterboarded at the site that year, according to a Senate report, the AP reported.

According to The New York Times, Haspel was the head of the Thailand prison when one of those two suspects, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was waterboarded there. At her Senate confirmation hearing, Haspel was questioned about her role in the destruction of interrogation tapes in 2005. According to the Times, Haspel served as chief-of-staff to the head of the CIA's counterterrorism center, Jose Rodriguez. In that role, Haspel drafted an order issued by Rodriguez to destroy the records, according to the Times.

Two Republican senators — Jeff Flake of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted not to confirm Haspel. Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, was not present for the vote but had opposed Haspel's nomination, calling her refusal to acknowledge torture's immorality "disqualifying." Even without those Republican votes, a handful of Democrats voted to confirm Haspel, locking in her nomination.

Patch will update this story. Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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