Hard Questions about Gina Haspel’s Appropriateness to Lead CIA

Posted: May 6th, 2018

By Todd Rosenblum

Todd M. Rosenblum served as President Obama’s Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs at the Pentagon, as well as Deputy Under Secretary of Intelligence for Plans, Policy, and Performance Management at the Department of Homeland Security. Over the course of a 27-year career, Rosenblum held positions with the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Department of State, and began his professional career as an Intelligence Officer in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Near Eastern Affairs.

As the senate prepares for what is expected to be a close vote this week on the nomination of Gina Haspel to become the next Director of CIA, both supporters and critics are ramping up the rhetoric. While those who would like to see Haspel confirmed are organizing a show of support in the hearing room, critics remain focused on the role she played in the destruction of tapes of detainee interrogations after 9/11.

Former CIA case officer and Former Acting Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense Todd Rosenblum recently made his case in The Cipher Brief.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

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