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Given the CIA’s sordid past, the question is not if Haspel rises to the caliber of the agency but rather if she descends to the dark levels that mark its historyIn the coming days, Gina Haspel will testify before the Senate in connection with her nomination by Donald Trump to direct the Central Intelligence Agency. Much has been written about whether someone who oversaw a secret CIA detention site where detainees were tortured should be eligible to head the nation’s leading intelligence agency.At first blush, this may appear to be the central debate. What ethical transgressions are inconsistent with an agency-level directorship in the United States government? Certainly, participation in torture should render a candidate unqualified. Yet, on further inspection, the focus on whether Haspel’s abusive conduct disqualifies her from CIA leadership cloaks a far more important and revealing debate. Continue reading…

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/03/gina-haspel-cia-director-nomination-collective-amnsesia