Dems slam CIA offer to view classified Haspel records
The CIA is proposing to let senators weighing Gina Haspel's nomination to lead the spy agency view classified material about her record in a secure setting, an offer quickly dismissed as insufficient by Democrats seeking more transparency about Haspel's past.
The CIA released a disciplinary memo late last week that absolved Haspel, a longtime agency veteran who now serves as deputy director, of any improper behavior regarding the destruction of videotapes depicting brutal interrogations of detained terrorism suspects. But Democrats have continued to push for more disclosure of Haspel's role in the George W. Bush-era use of interrogation tactics criticized as torture — and are demanding that more information be declassified and made available to the public.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) issued a fresh request for Haspel-related material Tuesday. Warner asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions for access to the Department of Justice's investigative report that resulted in a decision not to pursue charges against any CIA officials involved in the destruction of the tapes.
A copy of the DOJ report by special prosecutor John Durham "would be helpful to understand Ms. Haspel's role" in the decision to destroy the interrogation tapes, Warner wrote to Sessions in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO.
The CIA offered a compromise in a Tuesday letter to Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), intelligence committee members who have sought further declassification of Haspel-related records. A CIA official said the agency is "prepared to make classified background materials available in the Office of Senate Security for review by senators considering her nomination."
"CIA welcomes this transparency, not only to provide greater fidelity on Deputy Director Haspel's experience but also to correct inaccuracies in the public discourse," CIA director of congressional affairs Jamie Cheshire wrote in the Tuesday missive, which also went to Warner and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
Cheshire added that the agency "is actively working towards sharing additional information with the public to the greatest extent possible consistent with our responsibility to protect information the disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security."
Wyden, Heinrich and Feinstein rapped the CIA's response as "wholly inadequate" given the seniority of the position Haspel is seeking.
"Ms. Haspel is not an undercover operative, she’s the deputy CIA director seeking a Cabinet-level position," the three Democrats said in a statement. "It’s unacceptable for the CIA to hide her behind a wall of secrecy, particularly when such secrecy is unnecessary to protect national security."
Burr said in a Wednesday interview that that he doesn't think the handful of most vocal Democratic critics can be satisfied by further disclosures by the agency.
"The documents they would like deal with programs that aren't acknowledged as even existing, so how can you declassify something [about] a program that only works by not acknowledging it?" Burr asked.
Burr also suggested that Warner's request had been sufficiently addressed by last week's disclosure of a CIA review that found Haspel "acted appropriately," which was conducted by then-agency deputy director Michael Morell.
"I don't know how it's any clearer than to have the person who led the internal review" affirm the propriety of Haspel's decision, Burr said. "I don't know how it can be cleaner."
Current CIA director Mike Pompeo is expected to win confirmation as secretary of state as soon as Thursday.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to hold a hearing on President Donald Trump's pick to replace Pompeo early next month, giving more time for the Trump administration to try to snare some Democratic support for Haspel, which she will likely need in the narrowly divided Senate.
