The CIA is defending its deputy director Gina Haspel – Trump administration nominee to lead the agency – against charges that she erred when she wrote a cable to CIA employees, instructing them to destroy tapes of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on post-9/11 detainees.
The CIA on Friday released a declassified memo of former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell’s internal investigation of Haspel, and her then-boss Jose Rodriguez, who headed the agency’s clandestine service.
Morell’s review concluded that the decision was taken by Rodriguez alone, and that Haspel was acting “appropriately in her role as Mr. Rodriguez’s chief of staff, including her efforts to press for and facilitate a resolution of the matter, as well as in her drafting a cable that authorized the destruction of the tapes."
On Friday after the document was released, Morell added in a statement that, "Ms. Haspel did not destroy the tapes, she did not oversee the destruction of the tapes, and she did not order the destruction of the tapes. She drafted a cable, under instruction from her boss, Mr. Rodriguez, that he sent, under his name and authority, ordering that the tapes be destroyed. Mr. Rodriguez ordered the destruction of the tapes, not Ms. Haspel.
“My decision on the question of accountability was that Mr. Rodriguez was who should be held accountable and reprimanded,” he added. “My findings and decision were shared, at the time, with both the White House and Congress. There were no follow-up questions from either.”
A CIA spokesman Friday added that Morell's declassified review was written, "after the Justice Department had conducted an exhaustive investigation into the destruction of videotapes and announced that they would not bring any charges." The spokesman declined to be named as a condition of providing the comment.
"She didn’t just draft the cable that authorized the destruction of the tapes, she played a key role in events surrounding the drafting of the cable," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement Friday. "Unfortunately, the Morell report is highly incomplete, raising far more questions about Ms. Haspel than it answers."
Former CIA officers have joined in a full-court-press effort to publicly defend Haspel. Cipher Brief experts have debated the matter, which is likely to come up in Haspel’s May 9th confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee.
Read the declassified memo here.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to include Friday comment from Morell and Sen. Ron Wyden.
