Of all the members of President Trump's cabinet, I have found Rex Tillerson to be the most surprising and least objectionable.
I'm sorry to see him go, particularly with The Donald's typical "class", and I see it as a setback for the "adults" in the Administration.
Mike Pompeo is a blow-hard, and always has been. Big hat, no cattle, as they say. I'm sure whatever he does will be constantly overshadowed by his boss's actions, much like his predecessor.
Interesting coverage of the the new pick for CIA, Gina Haspel; CBS News says
Gina Haspel, new CIA director, is a "seasoned spymaster", and mentions that she
...is a career spymaster who once ran a CIA prison in Thailand where terror suspects were waterboarded...Haspel briefly ran a secret CIA prison where accused terrorists Abu
Zubayadah and Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded in 2002,
according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, who spoke
to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. She also helped carry
out an order that the CIA destroy its waterboarding videos. That order
prompted a lengthy Justice Department investigation that ended without
charges.
The NYT is
a bit less nuanced.
Gina Haspel oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects and later took
part in an order to destroy videotapes documenting their brutal
interrogations at a secret prison in Thailand.
Neither source points out that she has an
EU arrest warrant for her participation in torture.
Particularly troubling is the fact that the the CIA, not to mention the Administration or a good chunk of the American people, really
have no problem with this:
Within
the C.I.A., Ms. Haspel is similarly respected, and the agency’s
announcement about her promotion came with a long list of testimonials
from retired officials, much as prominent authors write blurbs for the
back of other writers’ books. The list notably included prominent Obama
administration officials, such as James R. Clapper Jr., the former
director of national intelligence (“very pleased”), and Michael J.
Morell, who twice served as the C.I.A.’s acting director (“I applaud the
appointment”).
The
praise for Ms. Haspel, despite her role in torturing detainees,
reflects the agency’s ambivalent attitude toward those who participated
in the interrogation program.
Is this really how the United States wants to represent itself to the world? Perhaps someone in the Senate will consider this during the confirmation process.
