Article snippet: The White House is ramping up an 11th-hour effort to build support for MORE’s pick to lead the CIA, just days before she is scheduled to face a grilling from the Senate Intelligence Committee over her role in the agency’s controversial detention and interrogation program. For weeks, the CIA has led the charge on promoting now-deputy director Gina Haspel—a forward-leaning PR campaign that some critics have said is inappropriate for the clandestine agency. Only late last week did the White House stand up the kind of broad-based press campaign typical of other high-stakes nominations, issuing a swath of laudatory press releases and briefing reporters. The delay, an administration official told The Hill, was intentional. Letting the agency introduce her, the official said, “reaffirmed the idea that she was nonpartisan and nonpolitical.” “It made sense in terms of reaffirming that that’s who she is—a career intelligence official who is going to head an intelligence agency and that intelligence agency is the one who had her story to tell.” The official stressed that there was no effort to distance Haspel from Trump, who has been deeply critical of the CIA in the past and has faced accusations from critics of politicizing intelligence. One GOP source familiar with the confirmation process suggested that the White House hadn’t done enough to combat the narrative that Haspel was heavily involved in the torture program. Human rights groups and some lawmakers are opposing ... Link to the full article to read more