The woman who approved a 2005 decision to destroy video tapes showing prisoners being subjected to torture techniques was tapped as acting head of the CIA’s clandestine services last month and may assume the job permanently, according to a report published online Tuesday in the Washington Post.
The dilemma over whether to promote the woman, the first woman to lead the agency’s clandestine services, puts newly confirmed CIA Director John Brennan in a potentially problematic position.
From WaPo:
The woman, who remains undercover and cannot be named, was put in the top position on an acting basis when the previous chief retired last month. The question of whether to give her the job permanently poses an early quandary for Brennan, who is already struggling to distance the agency from the decade-old controversies.
Brennan endured a bruising confirmation battle in part over his own role as a senior CIA official when the agency began using water-boarding and other harsh interrogation methods. As director, he is faced with assembling the CIA’s response to a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee that documents abuses in the interrogation program and accuses the agency of misleading the White House and Congress over its effectiveness.
To help navigate the sensitive decision on the clandestine service chief, Brennan has taken the unusual step of assembling a group of three former CIA officials to evaluate the candidates. Brennan announced the move in a previously undisclosed notice sent to CIA employees last week, officials said.
Read the entire report here.
