Trump's Nominee To Lead CIA Spent Decades On Clandestine Side Of Operations

By Mary Louise Kelly

Published March 13, 2018 at 1:25 PM PDT

Editor's note on March 16: During this report, we say that Gina Haspel ran a black site prison in Thailand where al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded. She did run that site for a time after the Sept. 11 attacks, but as ProPublica has now acknowledged in a retraction of its reporting, she was not there when Zubaydah was waterboarded.

President Trump has nominated Gina Haspel, a 33-year veteran of the CIA, to lead the agency. Before she can begin that role, she must first be approved by the Senate.

Corrected: March 15, 2018 at 9:00 PM PDT

During this report, we say that Gina Haspel ran a black site prison in Thailand where al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded. She did run that site for a time after the Sept. 11 attacks, but as ProPublica has now acknowledged in a retraction of its reporting, she was not there when Zubaydah was waterboarded.