CIA will not reinstate torture: Haspel

WASHINGTON: Gina Haspel, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, vowed on Wednesday that the spy agency will not engage in torture of detainees under her watch, even if ordered by the president.

Facing opposition over her role at a secret CIA prison in Thailand in 2002 where al-Qaeda detainees were waterboarded, Haspel made clear she would not support such activity in the future if she is confirmed as CIA director.

"Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program," she told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"In retrospect it is clear... that CIA was not prepared to conduct a detention and interrogation program." But Haspel refused to condemn the 2002-2005 programme, during which scores of al-Qaeda suspects were captured, whisked to "black sites" at secret locations around the world, and subjected to brutal interrogations that for some included repeated waterboarding.

Pressed on why she did not object at the time, Haspel said she and colleagues were following orders. She also said the program as a whole produced "valuable information" that helped disrupt more plots after the September 11, 2011 attacks, though would not say whether that was a result of waterboarding and other severe techniques. "Like all of us who were in the counter terrorism center and working at CIA and those years after 9/11, we all believed in our work.

"We had been charged with making sure the country wasn’t attacked again, and we had been informed that the techniques in CIA’s programme were legal and authorised by the highest legal authority in the country and also the president." "I think we did extraordinary work. To me the tragedy is that the controversy surrounding the interrogation program... has cast a shadow over what has been a major contribution to protecting this country.

Haspel said that the CIA is now bound by the Defence Department’s Army Field Manual, which specifically forbids torture like waterboarding. "I support the higher moral standard that this country has decided to hold itself to. I would never, ever take CIA back to an interrogation program," Haspel told the panel.

"I support the law. I would not support a change in the law," she said. Democrats worry that Trump and top aides are not opposed to the use of outlawed techniques in interrogations, and Trump has appeared to extol Haspel’s record in the programme. Pressed over whether she would resume an interrogation programme, and allow torture, if ordered by Trump, she said she would not.