Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today called on the CIA to release documents related to Gina Haspel’s personal involvement in the CIA torture program.

            “As we move forward with the nomination process for Ms. Haspel, my fellow Senators and I must have the complete picture of Ms. Haspel’s involvement in the program in order to fully and fairly review her record and qualifications,” Feinstein wrote in a letter to CIA Director Pompeo and Deputy Director Haspel. “I also believe the American people deserve to know the actual role the person nominated to be the director of the CIA played in what I consider to be one of the darkest chapters in American history.”

            Full text of the letter follows:

March 15, 2018

The Honorable Mike Pompeo
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505

Ms. Gina Haspel
Deputy Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505

Dear Director Pompeo and Deputy Director Haspel:

            I write to request the declassification of pertinent agency documents related to Ms. Haspel’s role in the CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation Program.

            As we move forward with the nomination process for Ms. Haspel, my fellow Senators and I must have the complete picture of Ms. Haspel’s involvement in the program in order to fully and fairly review her record and qualifications. I also believe the American people deserve to know the actual role the person nominated to be the director of the CIA played in what I consider to be one of the darkest chapters in American history.

            We as Senators take our role in confirming a President’s cabinet seriously and must evaluate Ms. Haspel’s record, including troubling press reports on her involvement with torture programs. While public reporting is useful, it is no substitute for the actual truth held in CIA cables, emails and internal memos.

            Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator