Earlier this spring, I wrote that Gina Haspel's nomination for the position of CIA Director was yet more evidence (if any were needed) that there will probably never be meaningful accountability for Bush-era torture. In light of Haspel's confirmation hearings this week, it's tempting to broaden that argument: Her appointment not only represents a failure to grapple with the Bush era; it has actually revived certain aspects of it.
On Wednesday, Haspel appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to answer (or, more precisely, to not answer) a series of straightforward questions, and her performance was positively reminiscent of the glory days of the Bush era. (Score one more for the continuity-not-anomaly theory of Trumpism.) In response to questions about the immorality of torture, she deflected with paeans to the “extraordinary work” of CIA officers “to prevent another attack on this country” while also declaring her fealty to “the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves [to].”
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