Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote a letter to Gina Haspel, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency director, seeking details about her role in CIA interrogation programs, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Haspel was in charge of a "black site" prison where enhanced interrogation measures such as waterboarding were used. She is also part of a group of CIA officials that was involved in a decision to destroy videotaped evidence of some interrogation sessions with detainees, the Post reported.
McCain, in the letter, asked for "a detailed account" of her role overseeing the CIA's interrogation programs between 2001 and 2009 in the U.S. and abroad, and her views on the methods used.
"Do you believe actions like these were justified, and do you believe they produced actionable intelligence?" McCain asked in his letter.
The senator also asked Haspel to list steps she did not take to prevent the use of enhanced measures. He also asked for names of those who asked her to destroy videotaped evidence, the Post reported.
He also asked for Haspel to commit to declassifying a torture report that the Senate Intelligence Committee finished in 2014 that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote.
Feinstein noted that Haspel had a positive reputation as the CIA's deputy director. "To promote someone so heavily involved in the torture program to the top position at the CIA, the agency responsible for one of the darkest chapters in our history, is a move I'm very wary of," she said in a statement, CNN reported.
In a statement released with his letter, McCain rejected the use of torture. "We now know that these techniques not only failed to deliver actionable intelligence, but actually produced false and misleading information. Most importantly, the use of torture compromised our values, stained our national honor, and threatened our historical reputation," he said.
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