With all the personnel changes that have occurred throughout President Donald Trump’s administration, it’s hard to give each change the attention it’s due. The new changes at the CIA and the state department are especially deserving of a closer look.
On Tuesday, President Trump fired Rex Tillerson from his position as secretary of state via Twitter. Simultaneously, Trump announced CIA Director Mike Pompeo would be replacing Tillerson, and Deputy CIA Director Gina Haspel will replace Pompeo.
Trump tweeted, "Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!"
So who is Gina Haspel?
Haspel is a career CIA agent who has spent much of her time at the agency undercover. The debate over Haspel’s nomination has changed tone since one of the main allegations against her — that she participated in the notorious torture of Abu Zubaydah — was retracted by ProPublica.
But there’s no reason to rethink the whole debate. The fact remains that Gina Haspel did run a “black site” prison in Thailand — essentially, an overseas prison that’s kept secret so detainees can be afforded zero rights — and torture did occur under her watch.
Haspel was also involved in 2005 in the destruction of tapes of CIA waterboarding sessions. Why would any American support the nomination of someone who destroyed evidence of illegal actions by the government?
Of course, Haspel isn’t necessarily worse than Pompeo, who refused to rule out waterboarding as a potential interrogation method during his senate confirmation process for the position of CIA director.
Pompeo may be even more damaging as secretary of state. The former Kansas representative is known for viewing today’s foreign policy challenge as an epic clash between the Christian West and Islamic East.
Pompeo told a church group in 2014 that a minority of Muslims “will continue to press against us until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure that we know that Jesus Christ is our savior and is truly the only solution for our world.”
Pompeo has also called for whistleblower Edward Snowden to receive the death sentence.
One of the main reasons Trump has cited for replacing Tillerson is that Trump and Tillerson disagreed over key issues such as the Iran nuclear agreement, while Pompeo tends to agree with the president.
Tillerson’s relatively realistic outlook on Iran was one of his few saving graces. Pompeo, on the other hand, has said the U.S. should consider bombing all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which would be an outrageous violation of international law and unthinkably dangerous.
